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Once you have these, you will want to know how you work without them.

I hate Phillips head screws. Whenever I face picking up one from my rusty and worn-out project car, I can't help but cringe. Based on where they are, I already know that there is a good chance that I will peel one off and spend hours trying to extract it, then give up and have to drill it out. This is why I will keep the impact screwdriver by my side from now on.

Although most impact screwdrivers look like ordinary screwdrivers on the outside, they are characterized by a mechanism with a spring and a rotating cam inside the handle. You can use them by placing the tip on the screw to be pulled out, just like any other screwdriver. However, instead of turning it by hand, you hit the bottom of the impact screwdriver handle with a hammer. This is satisfying and fulfilling. But more importantly, the impact will force the screwdriver's shaft to rotate counterclockwise, usually about 12 degrees, while also transmitting downward force to the screw/screwdriver interface to ensure that the head does not slide and peel off the screw's teeth.

If you want to learn more, here is a concise video explainer:

Having an impact screwdriver on hand can mean the difference between hours of frustration and minutes of work. Before I had one by my side, I was afraid to pull out a screw that had endured many years of rusty winter, because there is no ordinary screwdriver that can grab the head of a Phillips screw without peeling it off. I will finally hit the plum blossom bit, connect it to the impact gun, and pray. If that doesn't work, I will break the exercise. But now, rusty Phillips screws and flat head screws are just a small hassle. With a few taps with an impact screwdriver, they will pop out without awkward twisting or panic cutting.

If you are the kind of person who likes to think ahead, you will want to make sure that you do not peel off or over tighten the fastener when you put it back in place, so as not to have to repeat all of the above to remove it next time. There is another tool that can do this: you can use a torque screwdriver instead of just tightening the screws tightly by hand.

A torque screwdriver, such as a torque wrench, allows you to set a torque number and then click when that amount of torque is reached, ensuring that the proper amount of torque is applied to any object you reinstall. This drive provided by Gearwrench has a replaceable head that can be used to tighten nuts, bolts and screws.

Torque screwdrivers are particularly useful in small spaces where torque wrenches may not be installed. They don't need a lot of space to rotate, and because the attachment is long and thin, they can even squeeze into the tightest places. It eliminates guesswork and provides some assurance that the installed bolt or screw will neither withdraw nor fall off the next time it is removed.