Would someone please explain wtf is going on here?
I know precision screwdrivers, normal ones not as much, I mostly use hex wrenches and torx fasteners as a machinist and watchmaker.
Was there a joke here I missed?
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@karl_jones posted a video seeming to suggest that folk debating the merits of screwdriver systems might not be the most interesting people in the world. I replied, pretty much removing all doubt. It spiraled downward from there. I may have been a bit harsh in one of my responses, but I’ve seen all too many screwdriver discussions derailed by troublemakers who only sign on to mock and belittle, and who can be very hurtful. 
Yes, a joke. All in good fun. 
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It’s used for high-torque fasteners which are often used on aircraft surfaces. They’re a pain to use!
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just look up screw up… as in go north
post edit for interference
It started with @Simon_Clift joking about Robertson screws, which reminded me of the Eric Olthwaite story, which provoked @teknocholer to further satire, followed by me confusing “Robinson” for “Robertson”, followed by due and proper satirical chastisement, etc. etc. It’s not easy staying in character under these conditions, but we manage.
Basically what I am saying is that we are all Eric Olthwaite now.
“Black pudding is very black today, mum. Even the white bits are black!”
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Pedant police here: Flat-headed screwdriver is not the correct term. Flat-headed screws are literally flat on the top of their heads as opposed to rounded or hex bolt heads and can come in a wide variety of drive types. The screws and screwdrivers that he’s talking about are correctly known as slotted screws and slotted screwdrivers.
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Having spent the first half of my life in Canada, one of the harshest culture shocks in moving to the US was motherfucking Phillips screws. Back home, they were relegated to the recycle bin and avoided at all costs by everyone I knew. Then I go south and find I can’t even buy anything else. It was like a special circle of hell for people who build things. A finely tuned torture beyond what Satan himself could have conceived. 20 years later, I still taste bile and loathing in my mouth at every interaction I have with a Phillips screw. Burn in Hell, GM and Ford. I saved you all seats down here.
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Given the shape, I’m sure screwdrivers have a secret history.
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Even in Canada they’re unavoidable. Any appliance you need to open up has them. Woodworking screws are almost universally Robertson, but many specialty fasteners like drywall screws are Phillips, and it’s hard to find stainless screws in any other drive.
You probably know this, so forgive the mansplaining, but Henry Ford used Robertson screws in the Model T for a while, but stopped when Robertson would not give him an exclusive license for the US. If Mr. Robertson had been a better businessman, his system would probably be the only one in use globally today.
On the woodworking forums there’s a lot of love for Robertson, and many US contributors say they order their supply from Canada. There’s some confusion, though, because a lot of them call it “square drive”, and there is actually a US square drive, created as a copy of Robertson I assume, which misses the point about the Robertson design and doesn’t fit. (I can’t find a link at the moment.)
I haven’t used Torx screws very much, so I can’t really compare, but what experience I have doesn’t convince me they offer any advantage over Robertson.
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This was in fact the exact topic of the video we’re all commenting on. The video was making the case that GM and later Ford popularized the screws, so I was going off of that.
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Oops. Good point. I had seen the video some time ago, so didn’t watch it again, and I didn’t remember all the content. I’ll just agree with you that the Phillips system is the spawn of the Devil.
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I thought the video was going be a filmed version of that book.
I think I read it, out of the library, but it may have originally been a long article in The Atlantic. More than most need to know about the screwdriver, but a relatively short book, so no real pain involved.
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