Stan Brown wrote:
On Sun, 2 Jan 2011 16:19:01 -0500, Rocinante wrote:

On Sun, 2 Jan 2011 11:49:48 -0500, Stan Brown wrote:

It seems like every time I have to drive a Philips-head screw, say
for putting up window blinds or (today) a towel rack, I end up
mangling the slots in the head so that I either can't finish driving
it at all, or at best it takes a lot more effort than it should.

I'm sure there's something really basic that I'm doing wrong. Can
anyone tell me what it is?

Are you using the proper size, quality screwdrivers? Cheap or mis-fit
screwdrivers are a common cause of this problem. Additionally, you need to push
HARD while turning. A hammer driver impact driver can help with that.