Good Phillips Screw Bits

A few weeks ago I was working on a project with my cordless drill, screwing some two inch screws into a few two by fours.  The screw tip fractured and was immediately rendered useless.

“No problem” I thought as I remembered that several years ago my dad got me this Dewalt kit containing a wide variety of screw bits.

Well, it was a problem.  See the bottom tip in the picture.  That was the new tip after only five screws.  It is made of soft steel.  At this point I was even more heartbroken, because the first tip had been one that I’ve been using for about five years without trouble and I had no idea where it was from.

So, I’m in search of a few good phillips head screw bits.  If anyone has advice from their own experience I’d love to hear it.  In talking with my uncle about the situation, he recommended getting the tips that are always at the checkout counter at the lumber yard.  His rationale: they must be good quality because the contractors that are repeat customers buy them all the time, otherwise that bucket wouldn’t be sitting in such a prominent location.  And would the clerks put up with the constant complaining (as I realize I’m now doing) if the tips were poor quality? No.  They would move the bucket somewhere else.  Seems logical to me!

Thanks, Robert.

Tools – Mechanical Tools

Continuing in the theme of my hand tools post, here’s a mostly accurate inventory of my mechanical tools.

That’s a Makita oscillating sander, a Dewalt 18v cordless drill, a Black and Decker scroll saw and a weed eater.  Missing in the picture is the chicken plucker, but you’ve already seen that here.

I’ve also got two different brace and bit units to back up the drill.

As you all know from previous posts, I’m a huge fan of Herrick Kimball.  I built my chicken plucker based on his plan book.  I then went out and bought all of this other books too because his plans are well written and are based on good, sound engineering.  And, he personally uses all of his tools on his own homestead. My future will include construction projects to build his chicken scalder, garden cart and cider press.

The rest of my To Buy list is as follows:

Chainsaw (a Stihl brand saw most likely, but I’ve read a lot of good things about Husqvarna), Multimeter for automotive electrical work, Bench grinder for sharpening tool edges.

This is not a list that will be completed tomorrow or next week or within any time frame whatsoever.  It is just a mental log (now in cyberspace) of things I keep my eye out for when garage sale hopping or browsing craigslist.

Questions? Advice? Criticism? Leave a comment.

Thanks, Robert.