While we wait a bit for things to settle out at McF's, who else is a good source for square drive screws and such?
Fred
While we wait a bit for things to settle out at McF's, who else is a good source for square drive screws and such?
Fred
The Woodcraft ones look pretty similar but I haven't tried them. I've been trying some GRK screws which are Torx and available from a couple local sources in limited sizes and have been pretty happy with them. SPAX gets good reviews but personally I don't like the heads.
I just went to the McFeely's web site and looked for screws. Their "Select-a-screw" seems to be broken. When I ask for flat head, zinc plated, square drive screws, of "any size/threads", "any length", "any brand", I get a four pages of results, few of which are what I really want, which are #6-1".
As soon as I ask for #6, or 1", or both, OR anything that shows up in the "any-any-any" request, I get "No Matching Screws Found" "Please broaden your search criteria."
Now I know the function used to work - a while back - can't remember just when. (I've been laid up for quite a while.)
And they used to be nice to deal with, too.
What a shame.
Had the same experience about a week ago. Select a screw choices were not all working. I eventually was able to narrow it down to 4 pages of zinc square heads through which I surfed till I found what I needed and could add to cart. Order was sent and acknowledged by e-mail. I got the screws 3-4 days later.
I have the Woodcraft "kit", and I keep it stocked at all times, with spares on hand. I live 15 minutes away from a Woodcraft so I find it very convenient to stock what I can get locally. They're good quality, BTW I'm not sure that I've ever broken one or had one otherwise fail, and I've driven thousands of them at this point.
I was going to post a link to the assortment I have because the sizes are very usable, but I don't see it anymore. All I see is this tiny little sampler. Too bad. That assortment got me hooked on the Highpoint screws.
edit:
This was the assortment, anyway. I guess it was a poor seller, but that box of screws sees more use than just about anything else in my shop.
http://www.amazon.com/HighPoint-Lube...pr_product_top
Last edited by John Coloccia; 02-04-2014 at 10:33 PM.
High point screws from woodcraft were my go-to before mcfeelys and I can confirm that they are pretty much identical (even down to the exact thread grooves etc) to the mcfeely's pro master line. They are excellent screws.
I had to order from rockler this week and ordered a box of 100 of their "recex" screws t try them out since they look like the highpoint/promasters from the photo. I'll let you guys know how they are when they come in.
I would switch to GRK from lee valley in a heartbeat if they just did square drive. Square drive works, no one has any complaints with it, I wish everyone could just standardize on it for screws and socket drive for anything it is too small for. I would love to use GRK screws but I am not carrying around yet another style of bits in my tool bag.
Its time for our gov't. to quit letting big corporations sallow up their competition…It was bad enough when it happened to a 100 year old company like Porter Cable but now when a giant like MacMaster Carr or Grainger buys a company like McFeely's. It's going to get to the point where there is going to be no competition between companies because a few corporations are going to own all the "nameplates" we have come to know….How sad.
I just received my first email promo from them since the beginning of the year. Is this the same screw assortment they used to sell. My account history is gone. They used to tell you what you were getting in the assortment. But now it looks like they just threw a bunch of screws in a box. Rather than a variety of 25 screws per box.
http://campaign.r20.constantcontact....3-d4ae5275505f
Never mind. I found it on jpage seven of the I catalog. It is the 25-25-25. I think they had a promo for $19 the first time I got it.
http://www.mcfeelys.com/icatalog/p.aspx?page=7
Mcfeely tools was purchased by two friends and business partners. They also own Atlas Dowel in Harrison Ohio. Everyone is working 60-70 hours a week to get things going. We are on track, and everything is coming together quite well. We had to make a new website. It was not bought by a big corporation. Its a family run business. I started working for Atlas dowel in November to help them get the warehouse in order for mcfeely tools. The owners are two of the nicest people I have ever worked for. Atlas has a A plus rating with the bbb. I am sure once we have had a chance to settle in mcfeely tools will also. We have all the same products as before. Everyone there is dedicated to making this company work, and I truly believe they will be just as good, if not better than Grainger ever was. Please be patient and give them a chance.
Last edited by Justin Eversole; 02-24-2014 at 9:20 PM.