Ed Minch wrote: "I learned a lot working on a major addition in 1973 with a 73
year old carpenter named Joe Shingle...We were hanging doors and I wanted to be
just like Joe, so I pulled out my big honking screwdriver, and immediately put a
huge gouge in an oak door frame that took forever to fix.  He said “oh, you
bought the one with the spring in it”.  It just never dawned on me that he was
always using 2 hands to drive the screws."

Back in the 1970s I inherited a springed North Bros. 130 (*) and the Millers
Falls springless in the same size. I used these a lot over the years and always
found the springless a real PITA, but I used it a lot because the Yankee was so
gunked up with thick grease that the spring barely worked. Now that I've cleaned
out the Yankee (thanks to advice from the Porch) I doubt I'll ever use the MF
again, though I'm keping it from sentiment; these screwdrivers were, I now know,
among the first really good tools I ever had.

I marred a lot of boards with those screwdrivers, but I probably marred more
with the MF than the Yankee. I never had anyone to tell me to use both hands,
though.

Tom Conroy

(*) I now have three North Brothers Yankees with springs, marked 130, 130A, and
131A. I dunno why my inherited springed one is marked 130 instead of 130A. The
131 is the largest size, but I usually prefer the medium 130-130A size, and the
one I use most is a bought-new German Schroeder in the small size, which has a
hexagonal chuck for modern bits instead of the old notched-shaft design. I like
being able to use the wierd modern bits when necessary. I'd get the larger
Schroeder, even thought its workmanship isn't up to the old North Bros. ones,
except that I'm too cheap to lay out the money.