Something useful has come out of Canada, Robertson screws.

[hutch--]

It just happens to be that one of my neighbors is a Canadian and a decent handyman (for a professional chef) and he has waxed lyrical on and off about square drive woodwork screws. Just recently I have found a distributor here in OZ who is importing the original Canadian Robertson screws. Bought a hundred pack of 6 sizes and have used them in my latest kitchen project which is about half finished, a wall mounted kitchen cupboard and after using Phillips head chipboard screw for years these things are PHUKING great !

[donkey]

Yeah, they're awesome. I don't use anything else but Robertson's, I usually throw out any other type of screw and replace them with Robertsons, I mean why go through all the headaches of using cheap crap. They predate phillips head screws but quite a few years but never caught on outside Canada. Nearly impossible to strip, with a decent screwdriver they hold on to it without magnets and work exceptionally well with power tools.

[Bill Cravener]

Hi Steve, my brother and I prefer them when repairing furniture frames. They are great when using a cordless power drill to drive them in. The head never strips out on you like phillips do but there have been occasions were I've over driven them to the point the whole head snaps off (could be caused by a cheap product though). You can purchase them in any hardware store here in the states. The hex screws are common over here too.

[hutch--]

I have been putting 3 inch screws in with a Stanley Brace as it gives me the best control of the final depth, I have a Metabo roofing gun but its a bit savage and you can over drive a screw. Funny enough even pre-drilling this crappy Hoop Pine the load on long screws is hard on bits but so much better than Phillips head screws. So far I have been using the heat treated ones that have a wax coating and they have worked fine.