Almost every single screw in the store had a square hole in it. We looked around and found a few Philips head screws, but in very limited numbers that meant we couldn't get what we needed.
I thought, "What the heck?" Had some revolution in screws been implemented since I'd last been in a Home Depot (probably only a few months ago)? Had I just not noticed this seismic shift in the screw world? I consider myself a relatively crafty lady; although I'm generally not building things, tools and such are at least on the periphery of my consciousness. And I mean, contractors shop at Home Depot too--could the entire construction industry have picked up and changed when I wasn't looking? It's hard to see on this page, but most of the screws appear to be the ones with the square holes.
We asked the man about the Philips head screws we wanted, and he said, "oh, well, why don't you want these square head ones?"
"Well," I said, "I've never even seen this type of screw before. We don't have a screwdriver that will work on it."
"Really?" he said, "These screws are a lot better than Philips head. You just put the screw on the screwdriver and it doesn't fall off!"
So B and I decided to give these screws a try, since our options beyond them were extremely limited, and because it gave me an excuse to buy a pink screwdriver, which is fly.
The man was right--you put the screw on the screwdriver and it doesn't fall off, meaning that you don't need to use two hands (one to hold the screwdriver and one to hold the screw). I have the sneaking suspicion that these screws might be better than what I'm used to, although I don't know how they stand up against stripping and that sort of thing.
It turns out that these are called "Robertson" screws, and they're mainly used in Canada. Turns out this guy Robertson invented a screw so awesome that his competitors did some underhanded stuff that almost made him lose his patent. When Henry Ford came along and wanted to license the screws to use on his Ford assembly line, the suspicious Robertson declined and Ford went with Philips head screws instead.
I suppose he's lucky that Thomas Edison didn't find out and steal his idea.
So apparently Canada has been holding out on a better screw head.
If this had happened to me, I would have immediately concluded that, once again, I had somehow (probably during my sleep) switched places with one of my counterparts in the infinite alternate universes; in this case, winding up in the "Robertson Screw" universe.
ReplyDeleteThat is exactly what I mean! I totally had to do a "is everything I believed until now a lie?" check.
ReplyDeleteLuckily it was not. Except for the screws.
Do they insist that every single screw put into a wall include an anchor. This has happened to me before in foreign lands and I looked like an uncooth american just nailing shit into walls all manifest destiny style.
ReplyDeleteNo, thank goodness! I think the people who lived in this apartment before us were so terrible that we could cover our apartment with pictures of EYES and nobody would care.
ReplyDeleteOhhh, what I could tell you about these screws! Not only does the driver hold the square head tighter, but you'll find it far more difficult to strip a square head screw as well. They can be found in the states, but it takes some effort. Due to the difficulty associated with finding them, they are sometimes used as security screws. Crate builders are partial to them as well, as we see in this article:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pacin.org/content.php?120-Screws-for-Crate-lid-attachment
Yeah, Square drive screws are AWESOME
ReplyDeleteYou can find em at pretty much any big box store here in the states, but they charge a bit of a premium for them. I think they are most commonly found in cabinets here, but I choose them and pay more for it for most projects.
The only times I dont get them are for when I need so many the prices gets to be a problem, like the 20lbs or screws I went through framing my basement.
But seriously they are superior in every way.
Does this mean that I should smuggle Robertson screws across the border, now?
ReplyDelete