Harbor Freight free Screwdriver sets

[LCHIEN]

I seem to have at least two or three of these floating around.
You get them often at HF in the buy something 20% off and get a free gift ads.
I also have some tape measures and lights but that's another story - this is hurricane territory so lights are always useful but not always on the free gift list.






They're not my favorites, I have several better screwdriver sets. I've already given a few sets away.
Too dangerous to give to the grand kids (5 Y.O. and 2 Y.O.) to play with. Even if I let them take them to their house!

What's a good use for these including any idea involving modifications?
I'm sure they're soft metal and easy to grind or cut.

And don't say eBay! ( I wonder how much I could get?)
Ha, here's an eBay listing: $0.99 cents buy it now plus $6.80 shipping
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pittsburgh-6...MAAOSwA3tXoYZZ
Oh, yeah, more listings up to 5,6,7 8 bucks! They actually sold some for $5-6 incl shipping

I don't have that much chutzpah.

[mpc]

Grind one or two into an awl perhaps? Take the widest flat-blade screwdriver, grind the bulges off (between the blade tip and the shank) and then grind the tip into a skewed chisel shape to make a dedicated corner-glue-squeeze-out-cleaner-upper? I have a cheapo chisel that I ground the blade into a skew so it reaches into drawer and box corners easily for squeeze-out cleanup. I need a "left" and "right" skew though. If you don't already have a burnishing rod, a long screwdriver shank works fine as a burnishing rod to put an edge on card scrapers or scrap metal you're turning into profile scraping blades.

I generally don't like my screwdrivers to be magnetized as I do a lot with computer stuff where magnets are a bad thing... but magnetized screwdrivers are handy at times to get screws started in hard-to-reach locations. So I have dedicated (and visibly marked) magnetized screwdrivers. Magnetize one flat-blade and one Phillips for example.

It's always handy to have screwdrivers, or Allen wrenches, or whatever regular wrenches a particular bench tool might need dedicated to and stored right at that bench tool. E.g. stash whatever size Allen wrenches fit your router bearings with the bearings & bits. I have a dedicated Phillips stored in the BT3's stand just for the throat plate screws. Toss a straight-blade screwdriver into your kit of electrical repair parts - wherever you stash wire nuts & spare wall outlets & light switches, etc.

edit: another idea... need really long "nails" to hang hoses on? Drill a small hole in the wall & stud, pound a long HF screwdriver into the hole and there you go - a 4 to 6 inch long nail/spike for hanging stuff. Smash the HF screwdriver handle off to get more hanger length.

mpc

[LinuxRandal]

I don't think I have ever taken one of them, even when offered. I know one person who has several sets, and the handles would spin, after transporting in a hot car. Makes me think that the shafts might be usable if you want to turn your own handles.
Otherwise loaner tools, or put by someone who grabs a screwdriver as a pry bar, to keep your good ones out of reach.

[Bill in Buena Park]

I have a dozen or so of these because it's hard for me to pass up freebies. One set I took the longer of the Phillips and Flathead drivers, removed the handles, and reshaped the Philips into a point tool and the Flathead and to a small round nose scraper for small detail work at the lathe. Made new longer handles for them. They work okay.

[poolhound]

I have at 3 sets of the same and probably 5 of the free 25' tapes. the tapes are great as I can leave them lying around in the shop and garage and I can usually find one to hand. Every now and again I corral them and my other tapes into one location. I keep on set of the screw drivers in a general toolbox left in the house for misc applications, if its anything more important I dont use them.

Regrinding as a scraper sounds worth a try.

[dbhost]

I've been donating them, as well as the tape measures etc.. to my church for Habitat for Humanity projects. Maybe you have a favorite non profit that could use them?

[BadeMillsap]

I took ONE SET as a freebie once ... they are useless ... I suppose you could grind them to a point as suggested for a poor quality awl ... my preferred HF free offering is either the tape measures or they sometimes offer the magnetic strips which I use all over the shop to hold tools.

[JimD]

I don't use them for anything critical but I think they are OK. I use the replaceable bits because I'm always damaging them but for simple stuff, the freebie HF screwdrivers work fine. I also like them for little prybars, like for opening paint cans. If you damage one, no problem.

[cwsmith]

I don't know how many sets of HF "free" stuff we have, but by now I'm sure it's in the dozens of no matter what it is; we've given a lot away.

Actually, I don't think the screwdrivers are terrible. Certainly not great, but I've got some Craftsman screwdrivers that were simply terrible; great handles but poor quality steel. I keep a set in the garage and one right above my workbench here in the basement. My wife has a set in her kitchen utility drawer.

What to do with an abundance of HF screw drivers would be a good challenge. My wife joked that I could probably come up with something artistic, like maybe a room divider or a piece of wall art for the shop.

CWS