Toilet seat screwdriver (2025 Update)

I need to tighten my toilet seat plastic bolts. The nut below the toilet is manageable but the 'bolt' that extends into the seat hinge is slotted and any screwdriver I have just mangles the plastic. I tried a putty knife but it is too wide to get into the inset the bolt head sits in. How do plumbers do it without damage?

Or use a dime...

Dull 1' wood chisel makes a good wrong tool for the job.

There is a very handy tool to do just this job. It looks like a plastic pipe about 8" long with a rubber gripping sleeve and a series of slots in the top and bottom to go over the wings of the nuts underneath the bowl. Look on Amazon or just search for "Toilet bowl seat bolt tightening" or similar wording. About $8. Strangely it seems to be made by a company in the gardening or pool supply business. Maybe the owner had the same problem and just put his machine shop to good use.

"This Old House" also had the same problem and recommended cutting the bolts. Bad idea given the likelihood of damaging the bowl.

Is this a metal screw or a plastic one? Most toilet seat bolts seem to be plastic for the last 30 years or more.

Why buy a chisel instead of a wide blade screwdriver? As someone else suggested, in a pinch a coin, washer or similar flat piece of metal and a pair of pliers or vice grip can work to hold it while you tighten it. We're not taking 100 ft lbs of torque.