this post was submitted on 07 Oct 2025
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I hate phillips head screws with every fiber of my being. All they are good at is becoming stripped.
They are better than slotted. The driver always slips and you always stab yourself in the arm, they are impossible to work with. Why were they even invented, what purpose do they solve, it is literally the worst possible way to design a screw.
They are the easiest to machine, so they were invented first. Being first and being cheap leads to abundance. Ubiquity means every toolbox needs a flathead screwdriver, and most of those also prove useful as prybars.
My father in law converted a #4 slot into a chisel using his grinder.
Flatheads are typically used in situations where you want to discourage using a driver because it may over torque the screw and cause damage such as in an outlet cover.
The problem you have with slotted screw heads is twofold.
You buy the cheapest and crappiest set of straight bladed drivers the dollar store sells. Manufactured by some poor Pakistani dude squatting in the dirt and wearing his safety squints and safety sandals as he bashes each one out with a hammer and scrap steel anvil.
You have no idea that those drivers are actually meant to be fitted to the slotted screw you are working with. Not that it matters, you won't take the time and effort to do so anyway.
A good set of straight blade screw drivers cost real money. They a forged and then the tips are hollow ground to get purchase in the slot to prevent cam out. Check the cost of a set of gunsmithing screwdrivers. And no one that actually has a set or two of those is afraid to modify the tips to correctly make the screwdriver, (or as the British so elegantly put it-- turnscrews back in the day), fit the slot.
While we have far better designs these days, they are complicated to make and require special tooling to manufacture. And a big advantage to the slotted screw is if you strip out one of those much fancier types, you can often just take a small flat file and pretty quickly cut a slot to try again. (looking at you Philips head).
Slotted is still useful today, but as a bolt instead of a screw. They are fantastic for applications where you can't assume someone has a screwdriver.
They work OK as machine screws these days. But I still far prefer socket hexhead screws.
O the other hand, I have dabbled in the gunsmithing repair of old antique firearms. I have a taste for fine old British SxS shotguns. And they often needed repairs to put them back in service. They use nothing but slotted screws to this day.
And honestly, there is something in my toolmaker's brain that feels so good when I gaze upon a fine old shotgun and see every screw slot is timed to be in perfect alignment and every screw meticulously hand fitted to make it so. The extra time and effort to do that speaks to the care and craftsmanship of the 'smith that built that gun. It's a level of craftsmanship we no longer see in the day to day world anymore.
I should specify that they work better when all you have is a knife, coin, or cartridge. to unscrew things. My avalanche beacon has a slotted screw for the battery for example, but guns are another one.
Your beacon maybe has a coin slot that's a more universal type for real emergency things like your beacon or a small child's battery operated toy.
I'm confused, are you saying avalanche beacons are children's toys or emergency things? Childrens toys in my experience use Philips head screws.
You would be correct. Except philip head screws were never really meant to be removed. They were originally designed to be a simple torque limiting fastener for use on an assembly line to speed up the work. I think the screw type was developed for Ford Motor's use on assembly lines in the 1920s. The installation tool is meant to cam out of the slots when the screw hits the proper limit. So one and done. The issue is today designers are often too stupid/lazy to not distinguish between assemblies that need to be taken apart to repair and those that won't be.
And THEN the Japanese walk into this mess by introducing their JIS spec cross-head screws and special drivers. It's very close to the original philips in looks, but it's not. It's designed to not cam out as easily as a philips head screw and be reusable. And It requires a special set of JIS screwdrivers to install or remove. They are commonly found on Japanese motorcycles. Though they have spread and can be found in the weirdest places these days.
So if you have a "philips head" screw you just can't remove, it just might be JIS. So buy a set of JIS drivers, and look very closely, and "try before you pry" to be sure you are getting the correct fit between the driver and the screw head.
Just wait until you have to remove some old slotted screws! Phillips are great compared to them. My house was build in 1925, I think slotted was the only option back in those days...
Found this on Wikipedia "The credited inventor of the Phillips screw was John P. Thompson who, in 1932, patented (#1,908,080) a recessed cruciform screw and in 1933, a screwdriver for it."
You would think the screw and screwdriver would come hand in hand the same year. But I guess even he struggled with how to not strip them.
Pozidrive for the win.
I prefer torx (six lobe in this picture)