Screwdrivers

[cotefenetre]

Before taking up my project (refinishing a shotgun stock) I want to know what the best screwdrivers are, so not to mar any screw.

I was considering that handmade ones are the way to go because commercial ones will never fit properly. Although I could be wrong.

In case the handmade ones are the best choice, how do I must make them? What kind of steel? How do I heat-treat them?

I gave a try hardining a piece of steel with a propane torch and despite I was heating the piece for a few minutes it never got that cherry red color. Well, in fact, the steel never changed color besides some soot over the piece.

[mozark]

In gunsmithing the driver tip ought to be hollow ground and fit the screw precisely in both width and length. Hollow ground means that the faces of the blade are dished and therefore parallel at the tip, which prevents the blade from riding out of the slot as torque is applied and marring or destroying the screw head. It also allows much more force be applied without damage as there is far greater bearing area between slot and blade.

(this is about as universal a rule as I have, since your garden variety bevel bladed screwdriver isn't worth sh*te in any serious application, be it gunsmithing, cabinetmaking or anything in between.)

I buy old screwdrivers by the handfull at flea markets and garage sales. It's a relatively simple matter to modify one as required when the need arises. Re-hardening and tempering a blade is also relatively simple once you have the knack, but I would not recommend learning that skill on screwdriver blades. An improperly tempered blade might shatter under torque with the jagged stub then skittering across the gun.

Good gunsmithing screwdriver sets are available resonably from places like Brownells and Midway. They have a universal handle and a set of changable hollow ground tips.

Hope this helps,

MM

[Brass Rat]

I bought one of the Pachmyer kits in the blue plastic case and broke several of the bits in short order.

I now make my own by filing down the taper on regular screw drivers. Using a hand file you don't create enough heat to worry about.

I have also modified several impact driver bits for those stubborn King Screws.

[Aughnanure]

In all my years as an armourer and gunsmith I always followed the advice of that great American gunsmith, Roy Dunlap. Which was to resharpen cheap or secondhand screwdrivers by hollow grinding. Keep some ready for general use and on the really important jobs, fit the driver to the slot.

Never be tempted to try and save time, one slip can produce hours of refinishing---particularly if it is a customer's gun

I never heat-treated drivers and always tried one that I was using for the first time on a screw that didn't matter.

Eoin.

[cotefenetre]

First of all, thank you all for your replies!

I tried to harden a piece of steel (it was once a cutting part of a mill -- for seeds or something like that) with no success after grinding it with an angle grinder. I used a propane torch for a few minutes with no change of color.

Good gunsmithing screwdriver sets are available resonably from places like Brownells and Midway. They have a universal handle and a set of changable hollow ground tips.

I don't like those sets because they only fit a narrow range of guns, mainly of new manufacture. As opposed to old shotguns with very narrow and long screws.

I'll try modifying cheap screwdrivers with a file, although sometimes they seem to be harder than the file... Anyway, I am willing to learn how to properly heat-treat a piece of steel.

[sunray]

"...they seem to be harder than the file..." They aren't. A bench grinder is better for customizing regular hardware screwdrivers. I don't know any smithy's who use the Brownell's kits. The bits are designed to break before the screw head gets damaged. Plus the replacements are expensive and a pain to get. All the smithy's I know make their own out of regular screwdrivers.