Someone asked for input about demolition screwdrivers? I recommended Milwaukee, but they expressed hesitation and wanted more choices.
Dewalt? I still use an older Stanley demo screwdriver design, and the Dewalt screwdrivers are similar but made in Asia as opposed to the UK. The Dewalt drivers are also smooth-handled, which might not be as recommendable as drivers with rubbery handle grips.
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I like Irwin’s demolition screwdrivers a lot, mainly due to the handle design. But they’re $23 for the 2pc set.
By the way, many demo screwdrivers are sold in a 2-piece set with Phillps #2 and slotted 5/16″ drivers and 6″ shaft lengths.
You also want to look for metal handle striking caps and potentially hex-shaped shafts as well for turning with a wrench for extra torque.
They mentioned Estwing.
I LOVE Estwing USA-made hammers. They also now make air nailers, outdoors knives, and apparently screwdrivers as well.
You can buy these demolition screwdrivers for $10 each or the 2pc set for $15.
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They look alright, and seem to have very positive user reviews so far. I think? There are apparently 12 global ratings but no actual user reviews at Amazon?
Someone answered the question of where they’re made with:
The Estwing 2-Piece Heavy-Duty Demolition Screwdriver Set (42449) was designed and developed in The United States and is currently manufactured in China.
That wasn’t unexpected.
I don’t know… I have zero experience with Estwing screwdrivers, but these look alright. They check off a number of boxes – through-shafts, striking caps, hex shaft, and the handles are made from hard plastic (polypropylene) with a softer TPR overmolded rubber grip.
These look like they could be an everyday bargain. That of course falls apart if they’re not very good, but I’d hope Estwing would only put their name on quality products.
Price: $15
Buy Now via Amazon
Compare: Irwin Set via Amazon
Compare: Milwaukee via Home Depot
Can you recommend anything better for same money?
Tom D
Lan the Milwaukee are $13 and not even on sale wow. Though a demo Phillipe is kinda silly.
Rob
So, I wondered what a demolition screwdriver was even for, and google returned “Who is Ever Going to Use Phillips Head Demo Screwdrivers?” which I clicked and then realized it was a ToolGuyd article!
https://toolguyd.com/who-is-ever-going-to-use-phillips-head-demo-screwdrivers/
Tom D
Heh small world! I use my demo regular like everyone uses normal screwdrivers for – as a chisel and a prybar and basically everything but a screw driver.
Stuart
Thanks! I forgot about that one, added a link at the end of the post.
I use my demo screwdrivers a lot, but still haven’t pounded on the Phillips.
TonyT
What about Wera’s Chiseldrivers? I snagged the 6-piece set for <$25 (currently ~$40 on Amazon), and I have used them as chisels, which sounds pretty close to demo.
Stuart
Link for reference: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0001NQQCC/?tag=toolguyd-20
Screwdrivers with hex bolsters do come in handy on occasion. In lieu of a general screwdriver set and demo driver set, that’s where a combined set like this comes in handy.
Even so, demo drivers often have longer shafts.
I bought a PB Swiss demo screwdriver to see how useful it might be.
Frankly, I’m more inclined to use an inexpensive pry bar as a chisel or punch than a pricier one.
I’d use the Wera chiseldrivers as general purpose and heavy duty screwdrivers. But striking them with a hammer or using them as you shouldn’t use regular screwdrivers? Probably not.
6 for $25 on sale? Maybe. 6 for $42 as they are now? That’s a little less than 2 for $15 as for the Estwings, but if you use them as demo drivers are meant to be used, when – not if – you’re ready to replace them, it won’t cost you as much as a whole 6pc set or higher individual screwdriver prices.
Long story short, I’d use those Wera drivers for general purpose tasks, with the hex bolster for heavy duty tasks, and I’d likely only strike them if or when nothing else is available.
If I were a contractor who used demo drivers very regularly, I might consider them disposable and replace them every so often. But does anyone need different sizes of screwdrivers that are largely meant for abusive tasks?
Using the chiseldrivers as chisels to say widen the space for a door strike plate or latch? Sure – I could those Weras being used there.
But what about knocking a hole into metal ducting, or to punch out metal knockouts? That might be demo driver but not chiseldriver territory.
I think you’ve sold me on them.
I might be tempted to pick a 7mm size (between 1/4″ and 5/16″) as it’s $8.75 right now, but it’s backordered and so I might try to pick up a chiseldriver set on sale out of curiosity purposes. Here’s the 7mm driver:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003ES5KRI/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&tag=toolguyd-20
TonyT
I see your point (and I’m not likely to use them as a demo driver), but Wera says they are designed to be hammered, and I did wack mine with my Wera Koloss hammer ratchet (bought at the same time, thanks to some great deals at Newark Electronics)
https://www-de.wera.de/en/great-tools/wera-chiseldriver/
Stuart
Yes, but what will the be chiseled or punched into?
When striking a metal surface instead of wood, there’s a greater chance of mangling the screwdriver tip, impacting its usability on fasteners.
Newark has lost favor with me recently – their website keeps glitching and throwing out credit card errors, but only when I try to order certain items, and their customer service has told me 10 different things. Usually through, they have great pricing on certain things, especially in their clearance section or after 15% coupon. For electronic components and the such, I’ll pay a little more at Mouser or Arrow for better packaging. At Mouser, I’ll get crimp connectors in a neat circle packed in a baggie and then in a box. Newark folded them into a mess and put it into a bubble mailer.
Gary T.
I’ve got those Estwing demo drivers when I found them on Amazon.
For the money they are decent. The handle is on the big side similar to Witte screwdriver handles. I even bought a set of their regular screwdrivers as a result of liking the demo drivers. I was a little disappointed with the phillips heads performance on screws (tended to cam out more than other phillips head screwdrivers.). The Lennox demo drivers are another good option.
Robbie Stanford
Wiha extra heavy duty, one piece design the striking cap is part of the blade, hex bolsters, they are indestructible.
fred
One use foe a screwdriver that you can pound on is the removal of paint encrusted or otherwise stuck screws.Pounding on the cap – while applying torque may help to free the screw. Hammer actuated spring-recoil hand impact drivers can be even ore effective at this task. And — I’ve recently come across nut-drivers meant to deal with crud gumming up the works on hex-head screws. Midwest Tools (known for their tin snips) sell what they call Pookie Drivers – available on Amazon and at Acme:
https://www.acmetools.com/shop/tools/midwest-snips-mwt-pbset01
David Clark
At $8.99 before coupons, the HF Doyle 2-piece Demolition Set is very attractive to me. Gonna gift it for a stocking stuffer.
http://www.harborfreight.com/demolition-screwdrivers-2-pc-64859.html
Jared
On the heavier-duty side, Mayhew makes a “dominator” demolition flat blade screwdriver that might be a good choice. I don’t own one, so this is not an endorsement – but Mayhew makes good stuff and it looks heavy duty compared to Estwing and Irwin and it’s in the same price range here in Canada (Mayhew makes a few things for Snap-on, so they can certainly produce a high-end product).
rob
I can’t find the flat screwdriver one anywhere. I have some of the other early dominator stuff (scrapers and pry bars) and I like them.
Jared
I found it on Amazon Canada. Its listed as “Mayhew 60141 7-S Dominator Pry Bar, Straight”, if that helps your search.
Stuart
https://www.amazon.com/Mayhew-60141-Dominator-Straight-12-Inch/dp/B002JFV8PU/?tag=toolguyd-20
fred
While talking about really big “screwdrivers” – aka pry bars – I once came across this one:
https://www.amazon.ca/ATE-Pro-USA-86185-Screwdriver/dp/B00SO7SSYG
Stuart
I saw that too recently, and it’s in my queue. Technically, it’s not a screwdriver – it’s specifically sold as a flat pry bar. I don’t know capable it would be at turning any screws. Unless you’re talking about something different?
https://www.amazon.com/Mayhew-60143-Dominator-Straight-17-Inch/dp/B0026GN2KQ/?tag=toolguyd-20
Jared
The 12″ overall length version you linked to in the 9:15am reply is the one I was thinking of – but you might be right. I assumed it was a screwdriver from the shape of the tip, but now I’m not sure.
In the Amazon product page the 3-piece set is sold as a “Straight Screwdriver Pry Bar Set” (Mayhem 61354), but maybe screwdriver in that context just refers to the tip shape instead of actual function.
The other commenter’s sentiment about not banging on an expensive screwdriver makes sense too – but I think it depends on how you look at it. I certainly think it looks heavy duty and would probably hold up to harder use, and it’s a bargain compared to what it would sell if it actually were Snap-on branded.
Jared
I was just looking at the Amazon page again. Looks like they list a “12 inch” version and a ” 12″ ” version. The “12 inch” seems to actually be 17 inches OAL whereas the 12″ is 12 inches OAL. I was thinking the smaller one might actually function as a screwdriver.
rob
Use the Wiha and Wera variants all of the time. Paint and rust encrusted stuff. Plus I just like the weight. I have the PB Swiss versions, but really only for weight. I’m not hammering Snap-On priced screwdrivers. 😂. You could use a hand impact driver for most of these situations I suppose, but dirty screws aren’t the same as stuck screws, I suppose.
fred
For painted over screws on aircraft assemblies we used specialized cutters to preserve surrounding surfaces. No pounding on a screwdriver.
https://aircraft-tool.com/shop/search.aspx?keyword=screw+paint+cutter
Toolfreak
The design looks good, and yeah, if they work great they’d be a fair value at $15 for the set, but I would rather have paid slightly more for a USA-made product, especially in a market saturated with the same product made in China and Estwing’s market position as a US manufacturer.
It wouldn’t even cost that much more, if the price difference between Estwing hammers and similar quality imports are anything to go by.
They could probably have set the MSRP of a USA-made version at twice the price, $29.99, and sold them around $24.99 at retail and online, paid for the higher domestic production costs, and still made lots of profit AND had happy customers.
Hopefully Estwing gets a LOT of helpful and constructive feedback from their customers about these and other such products, and that they want them made in the USA like their hammers, and they are willing to pay the higher costs for the USA-made product.
Philip Proctor
A 5/16″ screwdriver isn’t as handy as a 1/4″ one in my experience.
fred
Malco makes a screwdriver-like tool for punching into and ripping ductwork:
https://www.amazon.com/Malco-CDR-Duct-Ripper/dp/B00IGHX7O0/
Klenk advertises theirs by saying “stop breaking your screwdriver”
https://www.durodyne.com/canada/products/tools_fasteners/dd_kds2000.htm
fred
Midwest makes one too:
https://www.acmetools.com/shop/tools/midwest-snips-mwt-x1
Greg
The Dewalt version should not even be sold. What an embarrassment to this Dewalt guy. I had the first one break on the first few hits. Exchanged the set and the same thing happened. I just threw it away and use the Phillips as a regular phillips. I am very cautious now when considering Dewalt hand tools. I still like their power tools.
fred
To be robust and effective that screwdriver shaft should extend clear through the handle – and even better be integral with the cap. If the Dewalt just has a steel cap on a plastic handle with no connection between the cap and shaft it is a recipe for breakage.
Graham F. Z.
Just can’t stomach the fact that Estwing demo drivers are made in China! I thought all their products were made in the USA. That’s why this Canadian supported them. Now I’m not so sure.
Stuart
They have USA-made and imported products these days.