My yankee screwdriver

[dancrane]

I was in the garage looking at how far I'd got making the outboard bracket, and remembering how frustrating it had been, swapping between large and small drill-bits for pilot holes and main holes, then again for countersink, flathead and crosshead screw-bits. I was thinking it would be smart to get another drill...

...when for some reason I remembered James May on his show 'The Reassembler', where he proudly displayed the pre-electric solution to rapidly driving in screws.

I had a look at whether anyone still makes the clever, spring-loaded 'Yankee' screwdriver which uses a telescopic shaft to convert downward pressure into rotation at the business end. I found that Silverline make a replica, but the reviews are not uniformly favourable. Then I found an original, very clean Stanley for sale; and now it's mine.

It is magnificent! It's also enormous...42cm long retracted, 62cm maximum. (Let's keep responses non-carnal, please?) I couldn't find a record of a model in that size, so I can't tell which it is. Does anybody know how old it might be?

In the first five minutes after opening the box, I had made two loony mistakes...

...firstly, I hadn't guessed that when I twisted the knurled end, the chuck would come bombing out with enormous speed and force, eight inches from the end, like something abattoir-staff use to dispatch cattle...SWMBO screamed and I nearly needed dentistry. Then, out of curiosity, I began unscrewing the back end, thinking the handle might contain a void in which to house the big crosshead and flathead bits that the vendor kindly included...

...it's beautifully made and the big screw took a good few turns to remove...then there was a musical twang, and something like the Alien foetus sprang out and bounded round the sitting room for a while. With more hope than skill, I used a narrow aluminium rod, narrower than the spring, to guide the spring back into the handle...and I'm relieved to say it all now works again as it should.

I'll probably get another Bosch cordless anyway, for pilot-holes and countersinking. But I think the Yankee screwdriver is the best tool I've ever had.

Is there a particular grease or oil to use (or to avoid) for the working section?

Any other fans out there?

Thanks for reading.

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

I have what sounds like the same one which must have fallen into my toolbag at work once, and I've got two smaller ones inherited from my Dad. One of two tools that he told me never to use. He was quite right, there's no faster way to completely destroy something than with a slipping yankee. I haven't used them for years.

 

[dancrane]

Go on, explain how it destroys things? Why should it slip?

Ah...I suppose a slot-head bit may slip sideways under the force required to rotate it...and it bores another hole beside the hole you were hoping to put a screw in. So...best for Phillips head screws.

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

Go on, explain how it destroys things?

Why should it slip?

Usually a deep score across the surface you'd just spent hours sanding! They shouldn't slip, but they will when you get a bit over-confident. I think the problem is that the starting torque takes a certain amount of shove - which is then hard to arrest if it starts to go wrong. The other thing I remembered after my first reply was the paranoia about leaving it lying 'loaded' when the kids were around.

 

[prv]

crosshead screw-bits.

*twitch*

?

Pete

 

[dancrane]

Jeez fellas...making me work it all out for myself tonight...why the twitch? Cross-head...like Phillips or Pozi, no?

Hell's teeth, how did it get so late? It was daylight when I unpacked the screwdriver. ?

 

[Skysail]

Usually a deep score across the surface you'd just spent hours sanding! They shouldn't slip, but they will when you get a bit over-confident. I think the problem is that the starting torque takes a certain amount of shove - which is then hard to arrest if it starts to go wrong. The other thing I remembered after my first reply was the paranoia about leaving it lying 'loaded' when the kids were around.

when I did my apprenticeship at RAE Farnborough we were forbidden to use a Yankee driver; if it slipped on an airplane wing, the compete panel needed replacing!

 

[prv]

I’m mostly joking, but there is a whole class of people who don’t realise that Phillips and pozi are different and the bits are not interchangeable. They’ll ask for “a crosshead screwdriver” and most likely proceed to mangle the screw with it.

Pete

 

[LittleSister]

I’m mostly joking, but there is a whole class of people who don’t realise that Phillips and pozi are different and the bits are not interchangeable. They’ll ask for “a crosshead screwdriver” and most likely proceed to mangle the screw with it.

I seem to recall there's also yet another patent cross-head screw, though less common in the UK - Japanese, perhaps?

There certainly seem to be a lot of cross-head screw drivers around that fit neither Phillips nor Pozidrive.

Whatever. Cross-head screws are yet another thing that disproves the so-called laws of probability. You can be sure which ever cross-head screw you are confronting, the screwdriver you have to hand will be for a different type.*

(*But no so different that you are deterred from attempting to make do with what you have, and proceeding to mangle as prv suggests.)

 

[PilotWolf]

My Dad had/has one. I loved playing with it as a kid, making it shoot out and intriguingly watching it rotate as you pushed it back in.

Remember it having a wooden handle painted brick red.

W.

 

[MADRIGAL]

Go on, explain how it destroys things? Why should it slip?

Ah...I suppose a slot-head bit may slip sideways under the force required to rotate it...and it bores another hole beside the hole you were hoping to put a screw in. So...best for Phillips head screws.

Exactly like that! My Dad had one of those too. I remember his cursing it. I think it ultimately disintegrated. I may still have the bits around. Interestingly, it did not have a bit for the square-headed Roberson screws that are so common in Canada. I guess that’s why it’s called a Yankee.

 

[prv]

I seem to recall there's also yet another patent cross-head screw, though less common in the UK - Japanese, perhaps?

Yes, JIS. I nearly mentioned it but decided not to as it’s much less common here than the other two and it’s reasonable not to own the matching driver. Looks similar to Phillips but has a single dot mark next to the socket.

Pete

 

[William_H]

I was in the garage looking at how far I'd got making the outboard bracket, and remembering how frustrating it had been, swapping between large and small drill-bits for pilot holes and main holes, then again for countersink, flathead and crosshead screw-bits. I was thinking it would be smart to get another drill....

A couple of weeks back a friend had his 22fter up on shore and needed to replace the wooden rubbing strake. I might have mentioned this boat before in that he bought it for 1 dollar. It needed work. On the chosen day a few more friends turned up to help, bringing cordless drills. Used 5 drills. First to drill clearance hole in wood second to drill smaller hole in GRP Third to drive in a tap, fourth to countersink the hole and fifth to drive in 4mm screw. He was up on ladder, others handed the drills up in sequence. others held the wood in place.
Got about 30 screws set in around 2 hours. So yes multiple cordless drills are the go. ol'will

 

[savageseadog]

when I did my apprenticeship at RAE Farnborough we were forbidden to use a Yankee driver; if it slipped on an airplane wing, the compete panel needed replacing!

Many years ago I worked in an ambulance manufacturing works. It was in an era when mains powered electric drills were fairly novel, Yankee screwdrivers were the essential fitting out tool. The ambulance bodies were GRP, the screws generally slotted, a slip of the Yankee was instant dismissal.

 

[Daydream believer]

I have one of the largest size & 2 of the middle size ( which are on my bench & get used often). There was a smaller size which I found pointless , but a couple of my joiners owned. Apart from the box of driver bits I also have some drill bits that fit, which are handy for the smaller pilot holes, when a battery drill is not to hand. Saves lugging a battery drill for just a simple job. Had them for about 60 years & back then one could swop them for a reconditioned one if they became worn. This was cheaper than buying a new one

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

when I did my apprenticeship at RAE Farnborough we were forbidden to use a Yankee driver; if it slipped on an airplane wing, the compete panel needed replacing!

My dad had the same training, hence my comment in #2. I expect you feel a little guilty picking up an adjustable spanner too?

 

[Boathook]

I 'inherited' this from my dad. A model 233H. 8.5 inches long with a 2 inch shaft length. Some of the bits are unused and one of the wooden cases has 7/6 on it. I don't remember him ever using it but I will clean it up and see how I get on as the drill bits may be useful ...

 

[Stemar]

I thought mine - a Facom - was the mutt's nuts. Then I worked somewhere where I had access to a cordless screwdriver. "That's for wimps", I thought - until I tried it, then it became one of the first tools I didn't know I couldn't live without until I had it. A mate who hadn't met cordless drills blagged the Yankee off me, and I've never missed it.

If I've got stuff to screw up where I really, really don't want the screwdriver to slip and I want to be able to get it undone when time and corrosion have done their stuff, I tend to use a square Robertson or an Allen head.

 

[dancrane]

I'm wondering whether the the diagonals on the inner shaft, might have been designed to be more elongated, so each downward shunt of the handle would have converted to a smaller section of a full turn, but would thereby be more controllable - and more powerful. Slower, obviously.

 

[Boater Sam]

I still have all 3 sizes of yankee driver. I never had the very short one with the bits in the handle, weren't these Record branded?
Not used much for a while now but when I was working they were to go to tool for fitting ceiling roses and wiring accessories.
Lighter to carry than a cordless drill and they never go flat half way through a job.