Flat Screwdriver for Adjusting Handtools( Planes) ?

[MrDavidRoberts]

Is there a special kind you use for this purpose? None of my flathead screwdrivers are really any good for this purpose ( the huge slots where you would need a rather wide and thin screwdriver).
Where do I get one? With just a regular screwdriver I end up chipping the screws as they don't really fit all that well.

 

[Racers]

I use a big flat screwdriver or the leaver cap, you can buy purpose made ones from LN.

Pete

 

[katellwood]

https://www.axminster.co.uk/plane-screwdriver-210904

 

[Jacob]

"Plane screwdrivers" are just stupid gadgets for the unwary. It's much easier and you get better control with a big normal cabinet screwdriver

 

[D_W]

Long handled, shot stem wide blade screwdriver for the planes if you feel the need (they are about 3 quid equivalent here in the states for a US made screwdriver).

For the older planes with narrow screws, buy a cheap import screwdriver and (without overheating it) thin the blade uniformly on a belt sander or grinder.

The harbor freight or HF equivalent stores here in the states have china made (and the bits on them are plenty hard) large screwdrivers individually available for $1-$2. If you mess one up, it won't be the end of the world. They work great once adjusted.

a specialty "plane screw" screwdriver is just something to lose and get upset about, plus they won't always fit in the slots of all of your cap iron screws.

 

[Vann]

I bought and refurbed some old wooden handled screwdrivers, making some fit plane screws. A wide thin one for the handle screws and a wide fat one for cap iron screws. You'll also want a long one for reaching in behind the frog. I ground the tips to shape on my grinder.

I also have an LV cap iron screwdrivers, but it doesn't fit all cap iron screws.

Cheers Vann.

 

[ED65]

In car-boot land old/vintage/antique screwdrivers are the way to go if you want to pick up flatheads that you can modify to suit various widths and lengths of slots. In addition to costing peanuts you can get some great lookers.

But even then you'll never find a handy size that'll fit cap iron screws specifically. I realised this early on so I made one from a washer, which despite not being tool steel has held up remarkably well. Which reminds me, I must get around to mounting it in a handle....

 

[ED65]

For the older planes with narrow screws, buy a cheap import screwdriver and (without overheating it) thin the blade uniformly on a belt sander or grinder.

Unless you want a specific profile that only grinding or linishing can achieve hand filling will usually get the job done and it's a great opportunity to practice one's metal-filing technique. Also much more difficult to screw up royally at that speed

I've resurrected over a dozen files so far, most flatheads and a couple of Phillips, and I've only found one so far that was a little too hard to file.

 

[Tasky]

For the cap iron, I see a lot of people just using the front of the lever cap, though I suspect that's not exactly good practice...

Something like this, maybe - These seem to come in various widths:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/HAZET-4650-3-P ... B001CA1HIQ
Can hopefully find it cheaper elsewhere, though.

Snap-On and similar companies look to have wide bits for their multi-bit drivers, which can also use a universal joint - Good for getting to the screws behind the frog.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

For the cap iron, I see a lot of people just using the front of the lever cap, though I suspect that's not exactly good practice..

We were taught to do that at school so I suppose 50+ years later it's a bit late to start worrying about doing it.

 

[D_W]

For the cap iron, I see a lot of people just using the front of the lever cap, though I suspect that's not exactly good practice.

It's perfectly fine as long as the cap iron screw isn't permanently frozen in place. If you get a plane that hasn't been used in a decade or 5 and the screw doesn't come loose easily, it's best to use a screwdriver the first go, but after that the lever cap is far more convenient if it fits (Some makes don't).

 

[AndyT]

I'm sure MrDavidRoberts will be pleased to learn that it is not necessary to spend a lot of money to get a suitable wide bladed screwdriver which is a good fit on the screws on plane irons.

This is what I use. The blade was a screwdriver bit, as used in a carpenter's brace. These are common and cheap at any old tool shop, stall or boot fair. The handle was from an old broken screwdriver. I just hammered one into the other.

 

[Tasky]

We were taught to do that at school so I suppose 50+ years later it's a bit late to start worrying about doing it.

I do it too, sometimes. It's just not the most.... ergonomic(?) of solutions and I find it can sometimes slip. I meant more that this is not what it was designed for, else the lever cap would always fit the screw.

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

I have an antique driver for Stanley screw heads by Marples. This was a special edition produced at the turn of the century. Very expensive.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[D_W]

We were taught to do that at school so I suppose 50+ years later it's a bit late to start worrying about doing it.

I do it too, sometimes. It's just not the most.... ergonomic(?) of solutions and I find it can sometimes slip. I meant more that this is not what it was designed for, else the lever cap would always fit the screw.

I think the opposite is true. It would've been easier to make the lever cap more blunt and rounded, but it was made thin enough to fit the slot.

Millers falls planes come to mind as one where the lever cap doesn't fit the slot. Some of the very late stanleys have rough bits at the end of the lever cap that prevent it, too, and that's kind of sucky.

LN's lever caps fit, too.

Not trying to start a scuffle, just think that was done on purpose (think of a guy on a job site who doesn't have a drawer of screwdrivers nearby).

It only goes wrong when someone gets ham handed, but that messes up a lot of things with hand tools (Bent chisels or chipped chisels, kinked saws, mealed screw heads, etc).

 

[Tasky]

Not trying to start a scuffle, just think that was done on purpose (think of a guy on a job site who doesn't have a drawer of screwdrivers nearby).

He'd have plenty of other things he could use, though, such as the back of a fixed blade knife, a key, a coin...
Besides, with all the other screwdrivers needed for the plane, if a design feature was intentional I'd have expected something that covers those as well. Some kind of multitool, perhaps - Those aren't a new idea either, especially for things like service rifles.
Half-tempted to try and make one such thing myself...

It only goes wrong when someone gets ham handed, but that messes up a lot of things with hand tools (Bent chisels or chipped chisels, kinked saws, mealed screw heads, etc).

I'm always ham-fisted, though!! :lol:

 

[D_W]

Curious about how much else requires a screwdriver on a regular basis. Once in a great while, you might fiddle the retaining screw for the lever cap, or tighten the screw in the handle.

LV's custom plane comes with a hex screw between the iron and cap iron (and it includes the allen wrench that works it. I use a magnet to keep them together, but I'd rather not have to even do that - but I am so accustomed to stanley planes that I'm biased toward them unless there is a gigantic leap from them to the level of another plane - something I haven't yet found).

Someone mentioned filing earlier - most of the good quality screwdrivers will have bits so hard that they'll eat files. I cut a couple of the cheap harbor freight screwdriver blades to work with split nuts (two hacksaw cuts and then hit the center bit with a punch and it will just break off). they ruined a good lenox bimetal blade due to their hardness. I was surprised by that in a large screwdriver that was on sale for 99 cents. Thus the recommendation for a grinder (and discretion, don't want to run that temper out).

Delicate and accurate freehand grinding is a pretty good skill to have for all kinds of reasons.

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

David, at the risk of appearing to have a tool fetish, I recommend a tiny jeweler's hammer (to adjust the blade laterally, as with a woodie ... very fine increments - I do so with Stanley as well), and this hex driver for the Veritas Custom plane chipbreaker. The driver really makes it easier to adjust the chipbreaker than on a Stanley and LN. With the Veritas, the chipbreaker screw is facing you as you adjust the chipbreaker.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[Tasky]

Curious about how much else requires a screwdriver on a regular basis. Once in a great while, you might fiddle the retaining screw for the lever cap, or tighten the screw in the handle.

On a plane, not that much I don't think... but everything else - Enough that I keep a flathead stubby in one pocket, and have several drivers (in various forms) on my keychain, EDC pouch and general stuff I have with me.
I probably use it most with my plough plane, but several things in my workshop are second-hand and so have had lost parts replaced with screws.

I used to use it for my poor-man's marking gauge (sharp screw head in a bit of wood) too, but I've since found a nice enough real one.
EDIT: Just remembered, my mortise gauge has a slotted screw on the block to hold it in place - Add that one to the list!

 

[ED65]

Someone mentioned filing earlier - most of the good quality screwdrivers will have bits so hard that they'll eat files.

The context was vintage screwdrivers, which traditionally were tempered to blue or thereabouts.

That aside, I'm not sure I'd want to risk using a very hard screwdriver on a very stuck screw what with the potential for a snap at or near the edge.

Delicate and accurate freehand grinding is a pretty good skill to have for all kinds of reasons.

So's hand filing to shape, and most of us have far fewer opportunities to practice it with intent 8)