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?

Thanks to those who responded. I need to drill larger pilot holes
than I have been doing and use a higher-quality screwdriver, also
carefully matching the screwdriver to the particular size Phillips
screwhead. And I need to use a lot of force straight into the screw
head -- that may be a problem because I'm not all that strong.

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com
Shikata ga nai...