I have a screw driver question

I'm quite happy with my 30 year old Vermont American; perfect size, quality tips, feel good in the handles.

Flea markets and antique stores are good sources for quality older handtools.

I have some Penncrest and Craftsman screw drivers. I bought the Penncrest in 1972.... Penncrest was the brand of too that JC Penney sold when they sold everything. I even have their socket sets and cannot fault them.

But still the Wera screwdrivers are what I reach for now. Those are about 10 years old.

And on another note Kudo's to California for mandating school kids to be vaccinated!

Yeah, smallpox and polio were eliminated using early childhood vaccination; here's hoping we can do the same with the various SARS variants.

Here's a proposed Itinerary for your California trip :-)

Day 1: Arrive San Diego. Check in to Hotel Del Coronado for two night stay. Dinner in La Jolla, walk Shell Beach at dusk.

Day 2: Visit the San Diego Zoo (remember Joan Embry?). Visit and tour the Midway. Visit Sea World. Golf at Torry Pines (I like the south course). Take the light rail down to Tijuana.

Day 3: Head north on Interstate 5 along the coast; stop and enjoy lunch at Dana Point Harbor. See the swallows at San Clemente. Check into the Bonaventura in downtown LA for three nights.

Day 4-5: Disneyland. Knotts Berry Farm. Universal Studios. Griffith Park. Redondo Beach. Santa Monica Pier. The Huntington Museum. The Getty museum. Hollywood. Griffith Park Observatory. Catch a dodger game at Chavez ravine. See a show at the Hollywood bowl. Shop Rodeo Drive in Bevery Hills. Take a see the stars homes tour. Take Mulholland drive to the coast.

Have Dim Sum for lunch in Monterey Park.

Visit the fashion district in downtown LA.

Dinner at Gladstones for Fish (Pacific Palisades, at the beach end of Sunset Blvd). [back in the 1980s, they had this huge lobster in a tank with a pseudo auction - Mary Tyler Moore had bid to save the lobster, Rush Limbaugh had bid to eat it].

Take a day trip to Palm Springs and ride the aerial tramway.

Take the Mt. Baldy ski lift (summertime) to the trailhead for Mt. San Antonio (el: 10,000 ft).

Play golf at Wilson in Griffith Park (don't let the trumpeting of the elephants or lions at the neighboring LA Zoo bother your backstroke). Watch out for the ball-stealing squirrels.

Drive the Angeles Crest Highway from La Canada to the Mount Wilson Observatory (on a clear day, you can see Catalina Island). Take a boat from Long Beach or San Pedro to Catalina.

Day 5: Head north to Santa Barbara on Highway 101. Spend the night.

Day 6: Head north on Highway 1 (PCH - Pacific Coast Highway) to Avila Beach. Stay at the Avila La Fonda (or, just a bit south at the Cliffs resort). Enjoy the beaches. Rent a four-wheeler and explore Pismo Beach.

Day 7: Head north to San Simeon. Take one (or more) of the four Hearst Mansion tours. Stay overnight in San Simeon or Cambria.

Day 8-9: Head north on PCH to Carmel-by-the-Sea. Dinner in downtown Carmel. Stay in Carmel or Monterey. Tour the 17-mile drive and stop at the Pebble Beach clubhouse. Visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium (where Star Trek IV was filmed). Go on a whale watching cruise. Have abalone at Abolonettis at the Wharf. Visit Cannery Row.

Day 10-12: Head north on PCH to San Francisco. Stop at the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk along the way. Visit the redwoods at Big Basin state park (recovering from a fire).

In the City, Ride a cable car. Visit the twin peaks lookout. Visit Coit Tower. Go to a Giants baseball game. Have lunch at Fisherman's Wharf. Have Dinner at McCormick and Kuleto's at Ghiradelli Square (don't forget the Chocolate for desert). Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge. Take the Ferry to Alcatraz or Angel Island. Have lunch in Sausalito or Tiburon via a Ferry. Shop Union Square. Explore Chinatown. It's a great town to walk, even with the hills.

One can eat at a different restaurant every day in SF and -never- eat at the same restaurant. Try Henry's Hunan by the Moscone convention center. Try the Marines' Memorial Association club near Union Square if you're a vet. North beach has excellent Italian restaurants. See a concert at the Warfield or the Filmore.

Day 13-14: Travel north to Napa and Sonoma counties and taste wine (BV in Oakville is one of my favorites - check out the "other" tasting room (not free) where you can buy a flight of the Georges de Latour private reserve for a nominal fee). Plenty of places to stay. Stop at the Marin Headlands (first exit on the north side of the GG bridge) and check out the views (and some nice trails) on the way to Napa.

Day 15: Head north on PCH to Fort Bragg for an overnight in a BnB.

Day 16: Continue north through Humboldt and Mendocino counties through the redwoods (there's actually one tree you can drive _through_ on the way north). Visit ferndale, stay overnight in Eureka.

Day 17: Head east on highway 299 along the Trinity river. Stop and take the tour at the Shasta Dam. Rent a houseboat for a couple of nights at Shasta or Trinity reservoirs. Side trip to Mt Shasta.

Day 18: Head west on highway 299 to Alturas. Stay overnight. Stop at Lassen Volcanic National Park along the way.

Day 19-20: Head south on US highway 395 through the Great Basin down to highway 70; Cross the Sierra Nevada on highway 70 along the Feather River (beautiful drive). Take 89 south to Truckee and then Tahoe city. Stay overnight in South Lake tahoe. Visit the casinos. Drive around the Lake. Take the Ski Lift at Heavenly. Take a side trip to Virginia City in Nevada.

Day 21-22: Resume southward journey on US395, stop at Bodie State historic Park (ghost town). Continue to Mono Lake and overnight in Lee Vining. Take Highway 120 west across the Tioga Pass through Yosemite. Stops along the way at Tioga Lake, Tuolome Meadows, Olmstead point, terminating in Yosemite Valley (stay at the Ahwanee Hotel in the heart of the valley).

Day 23: Explore Yosemite Valley (the waterfalls are best in the spring, mostly dry in the fall).

Day 24: Head south on 41 to Fresno; then east to Sequioa and Kings Canyon national parks. Stay in Bakersfield (where all 50,000 people who actually voted for Kevin McCarthy live :-). Head north east to Death Valley.

Day 25: Continue east to Las Vegas. Fly home.

WOW !! THANK YOU Scott. I will take all of that under advisement! We drive everywhere now days. Flying is faster but we are in no rush and the airport thing has been a hassle since 911.

I have not read all of that yet but are any of those locations near you? Or were you steering me away from your neck of the woods? LOL

Whew! I read all of that. Now I'm tired!

But seriousely, THANK YOU.

You have taken the, where do we go in California, out of the wonderment.

I do not know when we will be traveling again but I think it is great that our leaders are finally taking steps to shut this virus problem down, and or lead those that don't know any better in the right direction.

BUT in the next couple of years we will likely be heading in that direction.

Thanks again!

The locations stretch from the Mexican border to the Oregon Border, and from the Pacific Ocean to the Nevada border (and into Nevada for a few miles).

Basically, it is a clockwise route around the entire state; up the coast and down the Sierra Nevada. High desert, low desert, coastal plains, coastal mountains, alpine lakes, redwoods, wineries, pretty much everthing except the San Joachin valley (although both Fresno and Bakersfield are in the SJV).

When you drive from Monterey to Santa Cruz, you'll be about 15 miles away from my place (in santa clara county wine country).

You are welcome. I see I left out Gold Country completely. Well, that will fit after Yosemite, just head to highway 49 from 41 after visiting Yosemite and go north to Nevada City. Will add a couple of days plus some backtracking, but you can backtrack through Sacramento (Capitol, Riverfront, California Railway Museum - has a nice Cab-forward Southern Pacific steamer and offers steam train rides). At Jamestown on highway 49, there is another railway museum.

The 395 corridor south of highway 120 is scenic and passes Mammoth Mountain ski resort, but I couldn't fit it in without backtracking.

And yet, you did not mention to stop by your house. :~)

Leon <lcb11211@swbelldotnet> wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

I hope someone brings this thread up again in a few years to resurrect this post! It is bang on!

Screwdriver tips are disposable, treat them like it!

Know what tips are suspiciously good? The ones they include with portable drill/drivers. They just seem to stay nice for so long--even as they're being used!

Puckdropper

Did JC Penney sell everything like Sears did? Back when both were still going concerns and the main/prevalent big stores. Back in the 1980s I lived where there was a mall close by. It had a Sears and JC Penney store. And a Radio Shack and arcade that took quarters. I know the JC Penney carried clothes. I remember that. And Sears carried everything. Especially tools. But I don't recall what JC Penney carried. I can't remember walking around the whole store and looking at everything. I know the mens/boys clothes and shoes/sneakers were right in the front doors on the right side. I was just a teenager so the things I wanted and interested in were somewhat limited.

I don't remember seeing any tools at any JC Penny. The Sears catalog even had sporting goods too, but I don't remember any in their store. Of course, surely you know how far back the Sears catalog goes--it was an important "institution". Having mostly clothes (ha) and other textiles, JC Penny's catalog was not as interesting to me. Montgomery Wards had some tools. Sears has declared bankruptcy at least twice; I'm not sure if it still exists in some contexts, but I suspect that it may.

Yes, I remember JC Penney selling tools but at a much lower value point as Sears. Sorta what Crapsman is now. Yes, they once sold about everything but were a shadow of Sears, even at that time. Both of the Christmas catalogs were prized possessions. ;-)

They didn't sell everything in the same sense as Sears, which had houses and aircraft in their catalog at one time. But their stores stocked pretty much the same range of stuff. My Dad had something against Sears that he never explained--he would go to Penneys for tools. I remember when our American Standard oil furnace died we replaced it with one from Penneys (note--when I say "we" I mean my Dad and me--we did all our own work).

JC Penney in Corpus Christi, TX in the late 60's and 70's was very much like Sears. The old store prior to the one at the mall was strictly clothing.

Ours had a separate 6~8 bay shop and tire center too. There was a tool department, appliances sporting goods IIRC, maybe that was Dillards with the sporting goods and lawn equipment. Yes even Dillards was similar to a Sears too. and that was the first Dillards in Corpus.

And both of the stores were the flagship stores on opposite ends of the new mall.

My JC Penny screwdrivers and sockets sets are still working. I saw no difference even today between the quality of the Craftsman And Penncraft screwdrivers.

I have both brands of ratchets and sockets. I used to qualify monthly for sales volume and received credits towards items in a catalog. I often ordered Craftsman tools and gave them to my employees. I ended up with a set.

To this day I much prefer the action of the Penncraft ratchets over the Craftsman. The Craftsman ratchets have that nice button to release the socket but I was forever bumping the direction lever and having to switch it back. I never has an issue with the Penncraft ratchet.

I have one of the Craftsman fine-tooth 3/8" drive with the thumbwheel and release button. It beats every other drive I've used. I think I've had it close to fifty years too. It holds the sockets really well (the button unlocks the ball so it can't come loose without pushing the button). If anything, the direction is too hard to set