Julian Cassell's DIY Blog

Screwdriver sets are still essential parts of all DIY toolkits despite the fact that cordless drills now carry out most of the fixing requirements in our homes. In the following guide I’ll give you a few examples of why screwdrivers will always be needed, as well as some details about screwdriver designs and the types available. As is normally the case with any tool, you really don’t need every option to deal with the majority of DIY tasks and with this thought in mind, I’ll provide you with my choice for the best screwdriver set on the market.

When do you still need screwdrivers?

Basically, there are still times when a screwdriver makes more sense than a cordless drill, such as for the fiddly small screws or when you need really precise, accurate, and essentially non-slip control when driving in a screw. In the latter case, I’m thinking specifically of jobs such as fitting or changing a door handle; I’ve seen so many shiny new brass door handles that have deep scratches radiating out from the screwheads because someone has tried using a cordless drill driver to fix the screws in place and the screwdriver bit has slipped and gouged across the fitting plate. Always use hand held screwdrivers for this type of work.

Sometimes you’ve just got to use a hand held screwdriver, rather than a cordless drill, as it gives you much greater control when inserting a screw.

Another point is simply that trying to drive in traditional slothead screws with a cordless drill driver is certainly possible, but never really advisable, as they just slip too easily. Cordless drivers are really designed for use with crosshead screws (Posidriv and Phillips) or other designs that have more of a ‘socket’ fit for the screwhead such as Torx and Robertson screws (one for Canadian readers!).

Linked to the above points is simply the fact that the brute force of a cordless drill can sometimes work against you, and damage fixings, and fixing holes. For example, if you don’t have precise trigger control with your cordless drill when screwing hinges into a kitchen unit, you can end up damaging the screw or even the fixing hole. Standard screwdrivers just give you a bit more control in cases like this.

Screwdriver design

There are three parts to a screwdriver design and the eseential points for what you need to look out for are outlined below:-

1. Handle design is pretty essential and so steer clear of anything very shiny or smooth as it simply doesn’t provide a good enough grip. Modern screwdriver designs tend to use softer handles made of materials that provide a better grip.
2. Shaft design is not the biggest concern when choosing as most are either round or square in cross-section. The square ones allow you to grip them with an adjustable spanner or pliers in order to create greater torque, but to be honest that’s more ‘Engineering workshop’ than ‘DIY’. Shafts that are round in cross-section are more common, and that is all you need.
3. Tip design and most importantly what the tip is made of are the most essential things to look at when buying a screwdriver set. If a screwdriver has a flared tip i.e. the tip is wider than the shaft, then you will get greater torque, but there is a limitation here as flared tip screwdrivers are not much help if the screwhead needs to end up below the surface of what you are screwing into. For example, fine for brass handles where the screwhead is above surface level, but useless for say, taking apart the kids’ toys in a case where the screwhead is recessed well below surface level. For this reason, I always think you need parallel (non-flared) tip options in your screwdriver set, as they are much more multipurpose. Also, and vitally, the tip material needs to be resistant to corrosion and made from hardened steel. In general, avoid anything that is shiny, and a sparkly silver colour from handle to tip – these should only really be used as toys inside Christmas crackers!

Best screwdriver set choice

My favourite option on the market, is the Stanley Fatmax 9 piece screwdriver set as firstly it provides what I think is the most useful selection of sizes and tips. Furthermore, the handle design used with the Fatmax set is incredibly comfortable and provides great grip, and the chrome vanadium construction of the actual screwdriver bar makes them exceptionally strong from handle to tip. They even have colour coded bits on their handles according to tip type, which makes it easy to pick out the right screwdriver when rooting around in your toolbox.

As discussed above, you really don’t need every size of screwdriver in your set, and so I’ve provided deals for what I feel is the optimum set size of around 9-10 screwdrivers. You can go for 6 or 7 piece sets, but for the small difference in cost, I’d always be tempted to go for the slightly larger set.

You’ll find the largest range of Fatmax screwdriver sets on Amazon. Other retailers where you can find them include Screwfix and Tooled-Up.

Gapfast spacers are a new product on the market, and are quite simply a tile spacer for paving slabs. When I was first approached to offer an opinion on their suitability for the DIY market, I did ask myself the same 2 questions that always come to mind when any new product appears – “How did we manage up until now?” and therefore “Is there any need for it?”.

Well for me, maintaining a gap between paving slabs has always been achieved with offcuts of wood, commonly bits of ply wedged in position, and then removed once the slabs are set in place. The idea with the Gapfast spacer is to position one at all slab corners, and for it to remain in place, and then be pointed over in the same way as tile spacers on a tiled floor or wall are grouted over. I do have a slight problem with this, as although I’m okay with grouting over wall tile spacers as long as the tiles are not too thin, and therefore the grouting will sufficiently cover the spacer, I do have reservations with grouting over floor tile spacers. Why? – Well, because you will often get problems with floor tile joints cracking because there is not a sufficient depth of grout covering over the spacers, and obviously floors are put under much greater stresses than wall tiles.

Now, I do not think this problem is a deal breaker with Gapfast as I think in practice you would use them marginally differently to a tile spacer. Firstly, you’d make sure they were pressed slightly into the bedding layer below the slabs, so that you would effectively ensure that even with relatively thin slabs, there would be a good depth of pointing above the spacer. Also the Gapfast spacer design is hollow, so that your pointing material would be taken into the structure of the spacer itself. But even if you couldn’t bring yourself to point over them, you could just as easily use the spacer in a pegging fashion (like most pro tilers), where you insert one leg of the spacer into a joint, normally two spacers per tile side, and then remove them all once the layout is set. This also means the spacers are reusable.

So in conclusion, yes I think these are useful pieces of kit that would certainly help in laying slabs. Are they essential? No, but you could argue the same about tile spacers, and let’s face it, the vast majority of us use them.

In making your mind up, you need to weigh up the price tag of £11.99 for a pack of 50, against the time messing around in sorting out a load of ply or wooden offcuts. Also, Gapfast do point out the increased structural integrity that the spacers provide, and so you need to add that to your deliberations.

They are due to be launched in all the big DIY outlets, but at the moment you need to go direct to Gapfast, where you will also find plenty more information about the spacer, along with plans for more products in this area. Personally, I’m looking forward to giving the Gapfast spacer a go! Also keep an eye on the ‘Paving Expert’ website as they’re going to give them a case study in the near future.

Doing a paint roller review has been on my “must do” list for a while now, and having walked around my local big DIY outlet at the weekend, I thought yes, I really, really must do a guide to buying a paint roller. Seldom have I seen, in my opinion, so much poor quality product stacked on row after row of shelving, and seldom have I imagined, so vividly, the problems that people will have when they try and paint their houses with this stuff.

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Now in this post I won’t be following the usual course of my other tool reviews as to be honest, I haven’t had a lifetime of experience with hedge trimmers. Like many people, I use one a few times a year in my garden, but in my professional life I haven’t had that many long term hedge cutting contracts. So this is not so much about the best hedge trimmer, but more about pointing out something that is so obvious to me now, but clearly wasn’t at the time read more »

Now I don’t want to go down the road of some of the Health and Safety Gestapo otherwise, quite frankly, none of us would ever pick up a paint brush again, but I do want to impart a little bit of advice about staying safe with DIY and specifically eye protection. Whether you are doing all out demolition jobs, building a new house, or, just simply doing some average DIY around the home, you really do need to look after your eyes. read more »