With a shank 8 inches long and a handle 3 or 4 inches long, for a total of 11 to 12 inches.
I've had one for almost 30 years, and I finally ruined it, taking out a screw that was in tightly. It was a cheap one, but it worked well enough until now.
I figured a new one wouldn't be cheap but I can't find one at all, not at Ace Hardware, HomeDepot, Lowes, or ever Mouser. (Home Depot has a number 2, but no number 1. :( )
Their part number 272SC808 is an Xcelite Phillips #1, 10" shaft, 13
5/8" overall, for $7.57.
Part #272SC866 is similar but with the Phillips #1 "Super-Tru" tip, for $8.67.
They also have a matched set of six "Triton" extra-long-handle ESD screwdrivers - Phillips #1 through #3, one slotted, three Torx, for a cool $62.01.
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How about an imported tool dealer at a flea market? I bought a pair of longer ones for a buck, a while back.
You can always file a #2 down if you're desperate.
When I can't buy what I need, I braze a 1/4" hex bit to the end of a piece of 1/4" drill rod. The other end can have a tee handle welded on, another hex bit to fit a cordless screwdriver, or to the end of a worn out # 2 Philips screwdriver. Blank handle stock is available, but expensive compared to a cheap screwdriver. A pair of cheap drill press vises keep them aligned while brazing, and if you wear it out you simply cut off the bad bit and replace it.
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Yep, stop a Snap-On truck and show them what you have and say you want a new one. You will have to show you have the money to pay for it, usually proving your house had no mortgage helps . (Yea, it will be a bit more expensive than a hardware store, but you won't have to replace it again however.)
Also Mac tools also has trucks. Just watch for either as you drive by auto shops, and when you see a Snap-On or Mac truck, stop and talk to the driver/salesman.
If you could really make a #2 into a #1 by filing, you could resharpen the old #1 easier. The only hand-grind screwdriver tip that fits a #1 Philips is a flat-blade screwdriver with a V grind and the 'right' taper and blunted tip. And, that only hits two of the four flutes.
#2 has no two surfaces close enough together to fit into the recess of most #1 fasteners. It bends the metal of either the screw or the driver if you force it.
Then you need more practice with a file and the right steel rod. Drill rod is soft and fairly easy to work with. Do you really believe that the first Philips screwdrivers were turned out on CNC machines? :)
Obviously. That's why you file off the excess metal. Then use a torch to heat the tip to harden it. Unless it is a low torque driver that needs to remain flexible. I still have a 30+ year old 36" long
1/8" flexible flat blade screwdriver I made to service Zenith tube type TVs where the chassis sat way back form the front of the cabinet. Since it was made to adjust pots it has no handle. it slips between your fingers when you hit the stops at either end of the rotation.
I've made Philips screwdrivers out of drill rod with nothing more than a file and a drill vise. File, test it, and file some more till it fits. Then you can heat threat it to keep it from wearing out in a hurry. Not for every tool in your toolbox, but sometimes making a custom tool is the only way to get what you need. I started doing this almost 50 years ago.
I've also taken screwdrivers with chips in the blade and reworked them when I had nothing else available. You should have seen what few tools I had to work with at a military TV station in Alaska in the '70s. I even made a replacement tuner for our RCA Demod. The original Sarks Tarzan tuner was missing parts and no factory replacement was available. We were quoted $750 and 18 months for repair if we shipped the equipment to RCA's broadcast division. I dug up a similar model from a scrapped Motorola portable TV on its way to the base landfill. Then I made a set of new, shorter shafts and converted it from series to parallel filament. The last step was to remove the part number label and put it on the replacement tuner. When the Army heard about it, they were going to court martial for 'Cannibalization of US Property' me but they couldn't prove I had done anything. It looked exactly like the photos in the manuals, and had the right part number. A good set of files and some patience was part of machinist training for generations.
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"How to File Down a Stripped Phillips Head Screwdriver"
It's much easier to do with a #2 Phillips, but can be done with practice to a #1 tip.
It might also be helpful to grind down the pointy tip a little:
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# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831-336-2558
# http://802.11junk.com jeffl@cruzio.com
# http://www.LearnByDestroying.com AE6KS
Not really; I just buy a new screwdriver (except there's some small sizes that the hand-grind is required for).
Good Philips tips are mass-producible by grinding, but all my attempts at hand-filing have been minor to major misfits (I can only, by feel, get the simpler V-blade shape to a good fit). The handy instructions at
are, IMHO, laughably inadequate. To get it right, you need to control eight surfaces, in three dimensions, NONE of those surfaces is parallel to (for instance) the visible axis of the shaft.
Take a better look. Most appear to be cold headed, then heat treated. Untouched by human hands from time the raw steel rod arrives at the plant, and leaves as finished product.
So? All it takes is a little practice and a steady hand.
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I think those are the coffee stirrers, not the screwdrivers.
With a bit of practice, it's possible to use a file to fix a trashed Phillips screwdriver tip. I'm still using screwdrivers (mostly Sears Craftsman) that I inherited (or stole) from my father. Most are 30-40 years old and some have been re-filed or re-ground several times.
I bought a "Husky" brand #2 screwdriver, about 10" long, at Home Depot. Looks nice, but wouldn't work. It stipped out most screws. Then, I noticed that the tip came to a point. Grinding down the point somewhat flat, the screwdriver now works normally. I also inspected my collection of Phillips screwdrivers and found that most of the older Xcelite screwdrivers were also excessively pointy. The Sears Craftsman tips were fine. The problem is not really the screwdriver, but the badly formed cold headed Phillips screws.
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Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
for the situation of those long screws to fix the plastic cases of powered speakers and hand drills etc, including those recessed into the body. Where they often bind so much with the plastic over the long screw length, that the steel shank shears on trying to undo it. Find a soldering iron heater that will slide over the screwdriver to heat the screw head and down into the plastic
The Husky screwdriver I purchased was definately a #2 Phillips. It even said so on the plastic handle.
Pozidriv screw heads have radial marker lines coined into the head at the 45 degree points.
Note the flattened tips on BOTH drivers. The problem I keep seeing is that many screwdrivers have pointed tips while the recesses in common screw heads are becoming shallower.
The drivers are easy to distinguish:
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Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
I agree that the surfaces for good universal engagement into any particular size of phillips recesses, aren't easily attained with a file, and definitely not in any practical sense.
My quality drivers are either ground or cut with round tooling.. properly dressed abrasive wheels or properly profiled cutters that don't produce straight lines in the root of the cut.
Filing a #2P to fit a #1P would be little more than an exercise in frustration. A lot of trial and error would be required even if using a rotary tool.. die grinder or Dremel. Then the diameter would likely also need to be reduced to access #1P screws in recessed holes.
Screw head recesses differ in depth, and a fully filed tip that fits one screw will likely not fit others as accurately.
In a desperate situation, I'd definitely go for the two-flute/flat driver that Whit suggests.
-- Cheers, WB .............
Not really; I just buy a new screwdriver (except there's some small sizes that the hand-grind is required for).
Good Philips tips are mass-producible by grinding, but all my attempts at hand-filing have been minor to major misfits (I can only, by feel, get the simpler V-blade shape to a good fit). The handy instructions at
are, IMHO, laughably inadequate. To get it right, you need to control eight surfaces, in three dimensions, NONE of those surfaces is parallel to (for instance) the visible axis of the shaft.
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