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Comment by mikepurvis | Hacker News Reader

Robertson is excellent but they seem to be a uniquely Canadian phenomenon. My company ships robots to the US in big crates, and we've had to switch to building them with Philips screws instead because of issues with local availability.

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Robertson (Square) drive are also gaining popularity in building decking applications in the U.S. I've seen quite a few options in Home Depot / Lowes stores in the Northeast. One of reasons they are less popular than Philips is the price as square drives are a little bit more expensive and tend to be offered at premium brand screws.

Furniture-making often uses them as well. We're slowly coming around to the light.

Torx (star) drive screws too.

I'm in Ohio, but I guess that's close to Canada. The bit was pretty easy to find in the first hardware store I tried.

Super common where I live in the US as well. Lots of wood screws use them, but they show up in pretty much every fastener application.

Maybe it's a regional thing? Here in the midwest US the hardware stores carry them and Phillips, in about 50:50 proportion -- At least for construction screws (decking screws for example) this is true. Most of the contractors I know locally prefer them as well.

They are around here, but I'd say star point (not sure if they are double square or Torx), seem to be as prevalent at Home Depot as Robertson. I'm in Colorado, so on the cusp of the West.

> Here in the midwest US the hardware stores carry them and Phillips, in about 50:50 proportion -- At least for construction screws (decking screws for example) this is true.

I've seen them too, but only as construction screws. I've never seen a square drive sheet metal or machine screw in the US, for instance.

My dad used to work at an aluminium joinery company in New Zealand. They only used Robertson screws. I used to work there during shoot holidays. Only screws that never fell off the drill bit and never ended up a mess. Super easy to find st hardware stories too. Dad only used those at home.

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