Man oh Man
  Teach me to get an ear infection and be indisposed for a few hours! 
Geeeeeeze

  Ok split nuts are like any other saw screw. They cannot be driven with 
an ordinary screwdriver!!
Split nuts are obvious but regular saw screws are just as finicky.
   You can't even make a single driver to fit all saw screws.
  They make different sized slots on you!
   You'll need several if you work on saws much at all.

  So you have to grind a bit to fit the saw. You get lucky and it will 
fit more screws too.
  You won't need dozens but you'll need several by the end.

  I am not in the mood to make fun of fools who would spend a lot of 
money on a "made 500 in an hour" factory screwdriver, no matter how 
pretty the catalog is printed.  Its factory work.

    But I am certainly in the mood to make fun of dolts who are so quick 
to post retail sucker bait in any public forum!?!?
  Whats up with that??
  2 minutes on the board and somebody can't want to post the retail 
offering any moron can find in 45 seconds with their eyes closed??
You thought you'd inform us the sky is blue and in what direction you 
can find it too, I suppose?

  Anyway, you don't even need a special screwdriver donor for making a 
driver for saw screws. (yes, I've made some anyway, hee hheheh)

  But, you can pick any regular excess driver that is nearly large enough.
  Heat up the tip bright red and pound it out flatter/wider.
   No real blacksmith skill or tools required.  Any hammer and any heavy 
piece of steel for an anvil.
  The bit has to be considerably thinner than a normal screwdriver to 
fit to a saw screw anyway.
  Grind from there.

   Or just take an even larger screwdriver and grind the tip back until 
its wide enough, and then start grinding it thinner from there.

  The trick with all of them is the same as every gunsmith lives by.
The driver has to fit the slot!
    Actually fit the slot.
No factory made driver is ever going to actually fit, whatever you paid.
  Get over it and make your own.

    Take your time. Take a little off each side, dunking inbetween and 
sneak up on the fit.
   When you have the bit thin enough, take a warding file and form the 
cutout to clear the bolt. Easy does it, you can overcut pretty easy.
There is a natural human tendency to cut your notch too wide and not 
deep enough, so watch out for that.

  When you need to take split nuts all the way off, be sure to mark each 
one and keep them separated in envelopes or something,
   Each nut returning to each shaft and each pair going back into the 
same hole it came from.
   No crossing anything or you'll regret it.
  They are almost never interchangeable.

  In the case of a merely loose handle, you may need/want to engrave off 
the excess screw at the end, after tightening.

    Very slow with this so you don't damage the wood. Its very easy to 
slip.  But if you don't hurry its not too hard to pare off a little soft 
brass.
  A tiny bit in a dremel will also work if you keep a good hold.
   yours Scott

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    Scott Grandstaff
    Box 409 Happy Camp, Ca  96039
    scottg@s...
    http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/sgrandstaff/
    http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/hpages/index.html

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