the driver and the screw

I think the first screw driver I ever used was actually- a butter knife. Back in those days slotted screw heads were the norm and a nice heavy duty butter knife from the kitchen drawer actually worked pretty well in place of an actual screw driver. We were just kids then and probably in a hurry to get our bikes back on the road after fixing a flat or adjusting the brakes.  Besides, we had probably lost most of our father's real screw drivers in the grass long before and he had since hidden what was left. Still, butter knives were plentiful, and encountering anything but a simple slotted screw was unknown.

I've come along way since then and so have screws. These days I am both amazed and frustrated by the quantity and variety of drivers I must have on hand just to complete the simplest of jobs.
Case in point, the other day while doing a few repairs at a clients house, I found myself changing the driver bits so often that I began to wonder if I was on candid camera. First I needed a #2 Phillips, then the square drive or Robertson, then the #2 Philips again, next a phillips, but a smaller pattern, a #1. Then a torx or what I call star drive- yes but the larger one for deck screws, I know there is a common smaller finish deck screw too, but I wasn't using those that day. Yes there were some old fashioned slotted screws to deal with as well (my least favorite, - don't get me started) and a dozen or two steel roofing screws that required a special sized nut driver...

My cordless driver- a hefty 18 volt that I love, has two places on the rear of the body for carrying extra bits. I like that feature, not all cordless drills have that, and if you take off the chuck there is another secret spot where you can load an additional bit.  Although unlike the other storage nooks on the drill, here the bit must be at least an inch an a half long or you'll lose it down the shaft.  All told, including the bit that's currently in the chuck I can have 4 bits on this baby at once. But that is still nowhere near enough because there are the drill bits as in drilling a pilot hole drill bits, and two or three sizes of each of items mentioned above that one might find handy in a given day and then there are the five inch long driver bits, more like an actual screwdriver with a long shaft for getting in to tight spots etc. I'd really like my drill to have a dozen handy spots for storing these- can't do with out -drivers and bits . Maybe velcro is the answer.

After years of cursing Phillips head screws as too prone to stripping, I fell in love with the Robertson- a Canadian -of course. If you don't know Robertson, its a square drive, that is to say that there is a square recess in the head of the screw and it is easy to get good solid traction with the bit so long as you get the angle right. Oh yes, I have put in lot of screws with the robertson but I must admit that these days I have a new love, it's called the the torx or star drive. This baby has so much positive drive surface area due to it's numorous mini angles that you are nearly assured of success no matter the conditions.
Even with this myrid of drivers and fasteners at hand, I have to admit that sometimes I just need a more simple connection. One where all the niffty little bits can be left in the tool box, one where no patented fastening systems need be utilized, no fancy names, no torx, no Robertson. Yes, you guessed it, I'm talkin about a hammer and a nail.

One can't go wrong with a hammer and nail, right?

Well, not so fast, are we using the proper sized nail... 6d, 8, 12 16, sinker, common what's it gonna be? And what about getting the special hot dipped galvies for the pressuere treated lumber, or the ring shanked for siding, or the ...

I guess the good ole days when we just kids who gathered any bent nails we could find, hammered them straight on the sidewalk, and then used them to bang together our projects in ignorant bliss are gone forever.