Know your Screw-heads

It’s amazing how many Punjabi tradesmen don’t know the proper names for tools. It would put me to shame asking for a ‘minus’ bit at the Home Depot. Sure.. the sales rep will understand what I want, they’d also want to laugh at me for not knowing the proper name. Even ‘professional’ mistris have a hard time identifying common tools most of the time. I just how one person who knows all his tools by the proper names, the difference is he went to school where they taught him everything properly.

Most people wake up one day and decide they want to become an electrician. So with dreams of making a pile of money they jump into a van and they become electricians just like that. It’s the same for drywallers, plumbers, gas fitters, and all other trades in the lower mainland. You wouldn’t believe how poor the construction job is at some sites. It’s good to know it’s like this only here, in this part of BC. Would you feel safe living in a home built by some of these guys? I try not to think about it…

Anyway, if you don’t anything to do with construction even remotely it’s always good to know the proper terminology for a few things. Screws are the most common thing used around the house, it’s good to learn the basic head types for a screw:

A comprehensive list of Screw heads can be found here...
If you’re really eager to master every single variation of the screw click here and here...

The Robertson(square) head screw is by far the best one to use for any job, it’s also the least expensive and easiest to drive. It can be handled just by the bit most of the time without any need to guide it. This also produces the most torque compared to anything similar and never slips. It was the first alternative to the slotted(AKA minus) head invented by Peter L Robertson, a Canadian back in 1908.