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by Peter Brett - February 2007
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01444 440188
Wera thinks of everything
However, after reading up a bit on stainless steel, I have found out that good stainless steel has the ability to almost “heal” itself if it gets marked or scratched, and it is this key ability that ensures that it remains free of rust. But, if there are any, even tiny, particles of conventional steel on the surface of the stainless steel, these will oxidize and slowly cause the discolouration and rust on the stainless steel surface. Once begun, this rust not only looks unsightly, but will permanently mark the stainless steel surface.
Wera, being the thorough German company that it is, has looked at the problem and solved it - by launching a range of stainless steel screwdriving tools. The logic is that if there are no steel particles to start the rust then the stainless steel will remain rust free.
It sort of reminds me of the solution for maintenance tools that had to be dreamt up for dealing with the advanced alloys used in aircraft construction. Steel tools had been shown to damage the alloys so all the maintenance tools had to be made of specially developed alloys.
I am sure that a number of you are now holding up your hands and suggesting, quite correctly, that stainless steel is not an ideal material for making screwdriving tools. But Wera insists that its range of stainless steel drivers is “100%shop floor proof” because they have been hardened by a special process called vacuum ice hardening. This makes the steel hard and rigid enough to be used in high torsion and high stress situations like screwdriving, where the tip of the screwdriver has to be able to withstand a lot of stress. I can’t test this claim other than to vouch for the fact that they didn’t bend when I used them!
Like you in the retail trade, I have heard a lot of pitches before. Some make sense, others you wonder about, and some you simply dismiss with a word ending in .ocks. But Wera is not a company to make idle remarks so I set about a bit of testing. I live only a few hundred metres from the seafront, and the wind blows salty air at me, the French windows, my tools and my car daily, so I was able to set up a brief experiment on the deck.
Using some stainless steel screws acquired from the local DIY Warehouse,
I screwed some in with the stainless screwdrivers, some with the stainless bits fitted into the Wera Rapidaptor®, some with a steel screwdriver and some with a standard bit and Rapidaptor®.
I am sure that the windy weather that has been a feature of our warming globe helped bring the salty air right to my doorstep, because within three days the results could be seen. I had made a special effort to leave steel particles behind on the screwheads by screwing the stainless screws with the kind of abandon that I have seen some tradesmen drive screws. It was quite noticeable that there were flecks of rust beginning to form on most of the screwheads that had been screwed with steel screwdrivers. These were already beginning to affect the overall look of the screwheads. The other screws, driven with the stainless steel screwdrivers were not marked and looked almost pristine, apart from a light coating of salt.
For the retailer, and the purchaser, Wera has not rushed to introduce these tools at half cock. A full range of screwdriving products is available in stainless steel. These offer a comprehensive solution, and for regular users of Wera products, they follow a pattern so they will fit nicely into your sets.
The stainless range consists of the Kraftform screwdrivers, stainless Hex-Plus® L-keys, stainless BiTorsion (extended life) bits and the Rapidaptor® Stainless Bit Holder.
Retail buyers can purchase the stainless range of screwdrivers in sets or singly to fit all common sizes of slotted, Phillips, Pozidrive and Torx screws, most of the Kraftform handled screwdrivers have a special Lasertip® feature that provides a laser roughened section of the tip to provide a better grip on screw heads. This seems to work very well in my limited experience of it, but I am looking forward to doing a bit more work on my deck and studio when the weather warms up and the winds die down a bit.
The stainless Long arm L-Keys come in a range from of nine sizes from1.5mm to 10mm, and the standard hex keys come in a set of 9, also from 1.5mm to 10mm in a rubber clip to hold them all together. The Hex-Plus® profile allows higher tightening loads and prevents rounding.
The Wera Bit-Check® bit and Rapidator® storage system is, in my opinion, one of the easiest ways of making sure that you always have the correct size bit available.
Individual bits are available to retail buyers, and again the bit range covers slotted, Phillips, Pozidrive, Torx and hex patterns. These fit best into the stainless Rapidaptor®, but will also fit standard 6mm hex bit holders from other manufacturers.
Rapidaptors are also available to buy singly without the Bit-Check storage system.
I used to think that buying screwdrivers was a simple decision. Clearly it is now a lot more complicated than it used to be. Dedicated stainless screwdrivers should only be used on stainless screws, so that means a set of other drivers is needed for steel or brass screws. However, if stainless screws are not being driven, these tools lend themselves to all applications, particularly for outside work and in the marine industry where salt water tends to play havoc with conventional tools. Judging from the way that tradespeople were flinging themselves at the Wera stand at the D and M Tools Show a few months ago, word seems to have got out that Wera screwdrivers are good, and perhaps are actually necessary for doing some specialized tasks.
Welcome to the 21st Century!
Independent Review by Peter Brett
Airstream Communications