doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DIY Gunsmithing @ doublegunshop.com Fixed blade turnscrews

Was looking for source, any recommendations?

Garage sales, Pawn Shops, etc. Look for good steel and grind to fit. Old Stanley screw drivers are excellent steel.

I thought about grinding a few myself, now would parallel drivers be the same as hollow ground?

Parallel ground is not exactly the same thing as hollow ground. But, they both accomplish the same thing............having a blade that doesn't try to lift out of the slot under torque.

SRH

Fixed blade turnscrews are great to have and look nice in a case along with the gun but unless you have a surface grinder to grind them perfectly, you will ruin more with a 6" or 8" grinding wheel and never get the tip parallel.

If you are going to do a lot of screw turning the Wheeler set is hard to beat as they have many tips that fit most of the American guns made.

These caught my eye
https://www.garrettwade.com/gunsmith-screwdriver-set.html

I can probably make these, hand filing would be the way to go.

I've got a set of eight wooden handled, fixed blade ones, in my shop, and a set of Brownell's with interchangeable tips. Ninety nine percent of the time, when doing gun work, I use the Brownell's set. It's just so much easier to get a perfect fit with the screw slot.

The GW set looks very nice, and I could see grinding a set for a particular gun and including them in the case with it.

SRH

What David Williamson said about hand grinding bits to fit is true. But you can do a very good job of keeping the sides parallel if you use a small diameter stone in a drill press, and hold the shank in a small vise that isn't locked to the table. Moving the table up and down keeps the wear on the stone even.

SKB is right about the steel in the older Stanley screwdrivers being very good. Old Craftsman screwdrivers are good for regrinding too. I have a set of hollow ground fixed Bonanza Gunsmith Screwdrivers, but have repurposed many common screwdrivers by regrinding. You have to be careful though, not just to grind them correctly, but to get good steel. It is easy to discover the steel is too brittle by breaking a bit and marring a screw head.

Stan and David are right about the convenience of the Brownells and Wheeler sets with interchangeable bits. I do find that the Wheeler bits are a tad more brittle than the Brownell's bits though.

I know a great many people love and use the interchangeable tip screwdriver sets.I personally just don't care for them. Constantly changing the tips is an annoying little thing and I don't own any such tools other than some socket wrench sets. But those rarely get a workout on a Parker.

Anyway, I have always just ground and reground the tips & width as I needed them. Mine are all lying in a pile on the benches or generally stuck blade down in a coffee can.
No fancy wooden hangers above the bench. You get to know them by each of their unique handles as they've all come from different places and eras.

Shaping is quick to do and easy. I've found a bench grinder the least favorable tool to use to grind and shape them. It is slow and overheats them easily. Plus I can't see what I'm doing working with one very well.
I use a belt grinder (4x36) and work/grind off of the bottom wheel.

Using a very coarse belt to start with,, A 120 works well to take a large bit down but 220 is usually where I start and finish.
The shaping is fast and the work runs cool (so to speak) with little chance of overheating the blade. A can of water sits nearby for a dunk as needed anyway.

The dia of the wheel guiding the belt is easily used to shape the hollow grind shape. Blade tip 'up' technique and gentle pressure and you can see the grind right to the edge and straight accross as the tiny line of spark guides you straight.
Finish up with a finer belt grit if you need to.

Older screwdrivers from classic US mfg are good steel and make great gunsmith tools. Don't pass up giveaway mangled tipped blades used/abused by previous owners or even Phillips tipped drivers. They're all going to be reground anyway to your wishes.

No they won't all match and won't look like a Larry Potterfield video back drop bench,,but they will do an excellent job for you.
Plus you learn very quickly how to shape the blades so you can make what you need when you need it in the future.

I seem to remember that "someone" sold( or sells)a "jig" tro grind screwdrivers with. It may have been Brownell's.
Mike