Bob,

The all flat and flat/round ones all are called screwdrivers
in books that aren't truly ancient, so I assume they could
all be called turnscrews in ancient books (assuming that both
types existed then). Does anyone have "One good turn" or
whatever the screwdriver book is called?

Here is a snippet which says all flat ones
are "carpenters" and flat/round ones are "cabinetmakers".
This is from the Aust/British book "The practical man's book
of things to make and do".
http://www.wood-workers.com/users/williams/oddpics/screwdrivers1.jpg

I could swear that last night when I was looking through
"Newnes Complete Practical Woodworking" that I saw the
all flat ones described as cabinetmakers pattern
and the flat/round ones described as London pattern.

Jeff, any ideas (UK local knowledge)?

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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bob Nelson [mailto:reeinelson@w...]
> 
> A few days ago, I suggested that turnscrew was the name for flat bladed
> tools and screwdriver the name for round shank ones. 
> I'm wondering if there's some UK vs. US semantics at work
> here?
>