In these days of Wiha and Wera, acetate handle screwdrivers don't get much love. But I still like the feel of an acetate. So about two years ago, I bought a set of then-newly-released Channellock acetate handle screwdrivers, the "SD-10A Professional Screwdriver Set":
Unfortunately they were not very accurately made, with the shafts set crooked in the handles to various degrees. I returned them to the merchant for a replacement, but those were not all that much better. Nobody was interested in them on Craigslist, so I tossed them in a drawer, still in their package, and forgot about them. Bought some old-school Craftsman USA drivers to indulge my acetate screwdriver jones instead.
A couple of weeks ago I found them again and decided to write to Channellock to see if they'd fixed whatever problem they were having. Channellock wrote back; sure, send them back, we'll send you a good set. So I did. They claimed there was nothing wrong with the ones I'd sent back (I beg to differ) but replaced them anyway, and the new set is mostly right. Both #1 Phillips have slight deviations, but nothing like the earlier ones where you could rotate the handle and watch the tip describe a 5/16" circle.
Anyway, I put them into use, finally. Here they are:
There are five slotted (5/16" x 6", 1/4" x 6", 1/4" x 4", 3/16" x 6", and 3/16" x 3") and five Phillips (#3 x 6", #2 x 6", #2 x 4", #1 x 6", and #1 x 3"). All the shafts are round and all the slotted tips are straight-sided and smooth, except the 3/16" x 6" which has a square shaft and a ribbed, flared tip. The tips appear shotblasted for a grippier texture. The shafts are chromed, not particularly nicely but it's better than no chrome.
My first impressions are pretty positive. There's no ergonomic curve or rubber overmold, but these are chunky, hefty handles with good grippability. It's not like cramping your hand down on a six-sided Craftsman. These are substantially thicker, four-sided, with rounded corners. Old-school design, to be sure, but scaled for more palm contact and better torque.
The Phillips drivers have nice grippy tips. I'm comparing them to the Husky acetate set I bought a few weeks ago, which I am not super impressed with. I always feel like those are on the verge of camout, and the Channellocks are better in this regard. I can't really speak too much about the grippiness of the slotted drivers, because most of the time I'm not driving slotted screws.
If you look at the picture of them hanging on the rack, you can see Channellock made an effort to get all the slotted drivers more or less aligned with the labeling on the handle. Not perfectly, but close, and that's a nice touch if you're OCD like me and want everything to look lined up. And of course they're really pretty right now, all new and unmarked, with crystal clear handles and Channellock electric blue accents and that sweet MADE IN USA marking.
I should take a picture putting these up next to the Husky and Craftsman sets, but the picture probably still wouldn't convey how much more massive the handles are. They range from about 7/8" thick on the small drivers to about 1-1/8" thick on the large ones, and that's from flat side to flat side; they're thicker across the rounded corners. That's a plus for torque, but I can see it being a minus for maneuverability; they're likely to get in the way in tight spots. I wish they were labeled with the sizes, at least on the flat side if not on the end. Instead, they're labeled with the part number, which is useless. And I wish they were color coded like other brands are (even the inexpensive Husky set is red for slotted, blue for Phillips, following what I guess is the Craftsman standard). So I wouldn't want to be rooting around in a tool bucket for the right driver with them all looking so much the same. But on a rack on the wall, like I have them, that's not a problem.
So these will be my go-to workshop drivers for a while, and I'll see how they hold up and how I like using them.
Unfortunately they were not very accurately made, with the shafts set crooked in the handles to various degrees. I returned them to the merchant for a replacement, but those were not all that much better. Nobody was interested in them on Craigslist, so I tossed them in a drawer, still in their package, and forgot about them. Bought some old-school Craftsman USA drivers to indulge my acetate screwdriver jones instead.
A couple of weeks ago I found them again and decided to write to Channellock to see if they'd fixed whatever problem they were having. Channellock wrote back; sure, send them back, we'll send you a good set. So I did. They claimed there was nothing wrong with the ones I'd sent back (I beg to differ) but replaced them anyway, and the new set is mostly right. Both #1 Phillips have slight deviations, but nothing like the earlier ones where you could rotate the handle and watch the tip describe a 5/16" circle.
Anyway, I put them into use, finally. Here they are:
There are five slotted (5/16" x 6", 1/4" x 6", 1/4" x 4", 3/16" x 6", and 3/16" x 3") and five Phillips (#3 x 6", #2 x 6", #2 x 4", #1 x 6", and #1 x 3"). All the shafts are round and all the slotted tips are straight-sided and smooth, except the 3/16" x 6" which has a square shaft and a ribbed, flared tip. The tips appear shotblasted for a grippier texture. The shafts are chromed, not particularly nicely but it's better than no chrome.
My first impressions are pretty positive. There's no ergonomic curve or rubber overmold, but these are chunky, hefty handles with good grippability. It's not like cramping your hand down on a six-sided Craftsman. These are substantially thicker, four-sided, with rounded corners. Old-school design, to be sure, but scaled for more palm contact and better torque.
The Phillips drivers have nice grippy tips. I'm comparing them to the Husky acetate set I bought a few weeks ago, which I am not super impressed with. I always feel like those are on the verge of camout, and the Channellocks are better in this regard. I can't really speak too much about the grippiness of the slotted drivers, because most of the time I'm not driving slotted screws.
If you look at the picture of them hanging on the rack, you can see Channellock made an effort to get all the slotted drivers more or less aligned with the labeling on the handle. Not perfectly, but close, and that's a nice touch if you're OCD like me and want everything to look lined up. And of course they're really pretty right now, all new and unmarked, with crystal clear handles and Channellock electric blue accents and that sweet MADE IN USA marking.
I should take a picture putting these up next to the Husky and Craftsman sets, but the picture probably still wouldn't convey how much more massive the handles are. They range from about 7/8" thick on the small drivers to about 1-1/8" thick on the large ones, and that's from flat side to flat side; they're thicker across the rounded corners. That's a plus for torque, but I can see it being a minus for maneuverability; they're likely to get in the way in tight spots. I wish they were labeled with the sizes, at least on the flat side if not on the end. Instead, they're labeled with the part number, which is useless. And I wish they were color coded like other brands are (even the inexpensive Husky set is red for slotted, blue for Phillips, following what I guess is the Craftsman standard). So I wouldn't want to be rooting around in a tool bucket for the right driver with them all looking so much the same. But on a rack on the wall, like I have them, that's not a problem.
So these will be my go-to workshop drivers for a while, and I'll see how they hold up and how I like using them.
Last edited:
.....but I doubt they were made/produced by the same factory ( but again I could be wrong).