Craftsman 41586 Screwdriver Restoration 

I bought mine new about 45 years ago in a combo set at Sears! It is about the only tool from that set that I still have. It is quite unique and useful having a full handle in a stubby design. Best for opening paint cans and other light prying tasks. Mine looks a lot better than what was start with, but not as good as the end result.

Love the London pattern handle. Fits perfect can not be improved upon.

That's an older one as it's marked "Forged" on it. I spoke to a long-time employee at Western Forge (who made this for Sears) and he told me that they stopped hot forging screwdrivers in the mid 1990s. That one is older as I don't spot a date code on it. Western Forge was a joint venture with Sears as the partial investor. While Sears didn't "make" anything, they did invest in companies that would make products for them. Roper, Whirlpool and Western Forge are three examples of that. Money was often provided to these companies to start things up or allow them to expand to keep up with the Sears orders and production.

looks like that screwdriver has opened more cans of paint than driven screws. Good work giving it a new lease on life

Wow, a Christmas morning video! That was unexpected but what a treat. Thanks and have a Merry Christmas.

Wow - I never expected that screwdriver to turn out so well! I believe that type of Craftsman handle is one of the best ever designed. Merry Christmas everybody!

Wow, that steel wool stuff works really well; I would never have thought to use it on plastic, thank you for the tip. The finish that you achieve with the rotary tool and polish is next level. Thank you for sharing.

Incredible transformation! It’s unbelievable that it came out so clear. Whenever I have tried to restore one with that kind of handle it ended up being scuffed up, but now I realize it was because I used too high of a grit and didn’t polish it. Incidentally, I got G5 epoxy from West Systems, a 2 part epoxy and am surprised how clear it dries when it cures. I bet you could add blobs of it to areas that have big dings in it and then later reshape and polish it up. I will try it one day. The epoxy is very useful and is 5 minute.

I found your channel when I was just starting to restore old pocketknives. I think our philosophies differ but our love of the old craftmanship is the same.

What a great job on a Great short bladed screwdriver. One of the more valuable screwdrivers I a surprised it was in a FREE pile! Awesome stuff, thanks!

That really came out great! I do like wood handles better in general, but that plastic handle really came out great!

Nice work. Never heard the word 'mange' to describe the deterioration on plastic handles, but it works. I have a few old drivers with 'mange', but find they stay clean just through use.

Love the vintage Craftsman look :-). Well done sir

Merry Christmas! My wife has been taking French on the Duolingo, I can't help but notice that "mange" in French is "to eat." So mange, decomposition is literally eating the plastic!🫣🤣

Great job and tips! I’m going to restore the first screwdriver I ever bought. Thanks!

I hve that same driver, one of the best, i use it all the time....bought in 1979 at the recommendation of my VoTech teacher!

Your screwdriver turned out perfect thank you for the video

I have a lot of vintage Craftsman screwdrivers, and there was a certain vintage that all got that same white garbage on the acetate. Thanks for the pointers on removing it!

Beautiful job, especially the blue. No known cure for the plastic handle mange. The WF is for Western Forge, the maker.

I think I'm gonna start restoring smaller tools. These larger ones are testing my patience at every turn. It's beautiful!!

Magdad I love your videos. Scoutcrafter turned me to your ch and I'm glad he did

Great job on a great Craftsman USA stubby. Looks brand new now! Before the end of the video I was hoping you would say that the terrible smell was gone. I have quite a few of this type acetate screwdrivers that still work great.....just don't get them too close to your nose!

Nice job and satisfying to watch but I would have left the new blue paint off. I just like the look of a well cared for, yet well used, tool. So does my girlfriend.

Man, that Flitz is pricey stuff! I guess it works. 😮

Nice save, I hope it’s not deteriorating like some of snap-ons. Snap on replaced 5 handles for me. The handles actually crumbled. You do very nice restorations. Thank You

This video reminds me that it's time for my annual tool cleaning.

Astonishing results. I have a few that are getting the craftsman mange. Going to have to see if I can clean them up like you did to this one.

To get rid of the smell, try sealing it up in a tupperware box full of clean, dry, unused cat litter for a day or two. The deodoriser in that stuff is seriously potent, just pick one with a smell that you don't mind... I learned this trick whilst trying to get the mouldy smell out of silicon cookware (it worked a treat)

Looks great. Think I'll try restoring some tools. I do vintage pocket knives.

Unbelievable outcome. Really good job!

Thank you for this video.. I'm currently enjoying watching it..

I like that size of Craftsman screwdriver. Not used often but nice to have when you need it. Really came out nice. I recently removed the mange on a few craftsman then sealed them in spray shellac. I'll have to wait to see if it holds up. To you and your family Have a great, blessed Christmas!🎄🎅☃🙏

I love the smell of those old degraded screwdrivers almost as much as the smell of brakekleen

Thats one of my favorite screwdrivers to use. Big handle and short in length. Ive never had a handle with the mange as bad as the one you did. It came out very nice. I want to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year! Looking forward to watching your channel in 2023! 👍🇺🇸

I bought 3 flathead and 3 phillips head Craftsman screwdrivers of different sizes to go on the rack hanging off the side of my tool chest. Same handle style as the one in this video. I have probably around a dozen screwdrivers in that tool chest of various makes. But the Craftsman style feel so nice in the hand, they are the ones I want to grab first.

You have dedication. Your restoration materials exceeded the cost of that screwdriver when it was new. You got a good result. But you only have a marginal tool now that it is done. I wouldn't have made the effort! I have 30+ tool chests full of hand tools. I got so frustrated with Craftsman poor quality that I did an almost 100% purge of my Craftsman branded tools in the lathe 70's. About a dozen or two survived the purge. I kept a micrometer, a 1942 drill press, a metal lathe made by Atlas, a ball pien hammer, some specialty wrenches, and a few sockets. I invested time in saving the drill press. That model production lasted only 6 months. WW2 war production killed that product. I reluctantly admit that I really like that drill press. It is far from my best, but it is a nice option for small part work. It is a mid range size of my 5 drill presses. Many tasks require only small holes or light duty work. It is fun to use and sports a fancy repaint job. Craftsman screw drivers of your era had very soft blades. They wear and rapidly damage fasteners when worn. Plastic from that era was especially prone to the mange and smell. Snap-On from that era could get to stinking too. I had a slightly larger stubby blade version of the Snap-On screw driver as your restoration. It had a black triangle shaped handle. That tool was a real tool, but one day I opened the chest drawer and saw that the plastic handle had crumbled. Snap-On replaced the handle with a larger four sided orange handle. It still is a good tool, but I don't enjoy using it. The handle feels too long to me and it isn't marked with the old logo and part number. I tried to clean the mange off of the few Craftsman tool handles that I did keep into the late 80's. They didn't get your loving treatment, but the mange and stink returned very quickly. I discarded them. I was raised to prize Craftsman. In my father's experience, they were the best. Their no questions asked exchange warranty was compelling. Working professionally, that warranty was being exercised weekly. My poor man's budget didn't like double stocking tools so I could complete the workday and exchange the failed tool on the way home. ,(My home lane was directly across the street from the Sears mall store.) I had to find a better professional solution. It was painful, but I began my switch to Snap-On for that reason. I tried other professional brands, and still own many other brands, but I became very loyal to Snap-On for mechanic's tools. I find that most skilled trades have trade specific best brands. I have found owning those brands gain the best performance, durability and user enjoyment. You found your Craftsman in the bargain box. I find many of my premium tools second hand as well. Purchasing used has stretched my buying power accounting for my quality tool horde.

Looks great! I like the In the Heatish of the Nightish style music in the background!

Well done King, your the man,that screwdriver is awesome!

I got a whole set of these for Christmas in the late sixties.

Super job...looks brand new... Didn't think it had a prayer but there it is ...🖖

I've been watching older videos from before I followed the channel. The transition away from using background music, during the main part of videos, was a good choice. It was too distracting. The dreml tool is all the music needed. Oh, after the steel wool to clean up the mange, I'd have used 3 different industrial cleaners, ancient Greek dragon's breath, and a voodoo doll to eliminate any remnants of it from returning. I appreciate that Chuck wears his PPE.

Those are my favorite type of screwdrivers! My wife has one but I am yet to find my own. 0000 steel wool, Flitz, and Plastex are used on almost all of my projects. You infected me with your wood handled screwdriver passion. I recently got 3 interesting ones at my local flea market.

You did a great Job God Bless my friend!

Nice video! Happy new year! I hope you had a nice Christmas! I was curious to see if the mange would come back. I kept watching and you answered my question.

Wow Magdad that screwdriver has so much Christmas Shine now. The extra fine steel wool and flitz hit your project out of the park!

Nice resto, quickly earned my subscription!

Great job, sir.✌🏻

Another great restoration. Pretty impressive how the handle turned out. Merry Christmas to you and your family. And Chuck. 😀🎄

Glad too see the results of the Plastx, I just bought some recently. It looks good. Brand new beginning.

Merry Christmas to you and Chuck, as well as Mrs. Magdad and Magdaughter!

A Magdad video…an excellent gift this beautiful Christmas morning.

Try WD-40 next time on those handles first. It will soften the grunge and won't affect the coloring. After cleaning them up, use water/baking soda solution to help neutralize the Butyric acid. Protection with Boeshield T-9 for storage may help as well. Heat will speed up the formation of Butryic acid, so a cool dry environment is best.

Merry Christmas Magdad. Thanks for all the great tips and videos!🎄

Great restoration. I love Craftsman Acetate handled screwdrivers (they smell). My favorite screwdrivers are of course wooden handled.

It's a nice screw driver.ive seen em before I like short stub screw driver More power.....

Great tip about the black in the blue ... I think it matches the factory color bedder

Interesting. Not crazy about the heavy blue paint, but a good job.

Great job I have seen a few tools with those plastic handles with that mange on them in the past and always assumed that something corrosive might have been spilled on them but I guess they can just get that way over time somehow.

Nice Job 👍 Magdad ! Merry Christmas to You and Mrs. Magdad and Magdaughter and Chuck !

Looks great. FYI, if you ever come across a used Craftsman 1/4” flat-blade screwdriver, a fun, quick, and useful mod is to pull out the blade and press in a 1/4” hex quick release bit holder (such as HFT #64763 or similar).

Great job on the screwdriver. The handle cleaned up better than new (except for the lettering, of course). That is a particularly handy size screwdriver. It is short enough to get into tight places but still big enough to do some serious work... Now, if they could just do something about that smell... I made the mistake of storing a bunch of acetate-based plastic handled tools in a closed metal tool box... Man!! when you opened the box, the smell would knock you down. Now I keep them in open bins... Merry Christmas,,,

I have one of those. I have had it since new, well over 40 yrs now. 😊😊😊😊😊

That turned out great. I found that cleaning the plastic handle in ammonia got rid of that vomit smell. I did a video on one a couple months ago using ammonia.

Your videos make me philosophical. I never used to "restore" "ugly" tools like this. But if you already own them you're responsible for their condition so just try to make them prettier. Always start as simply as possible. Wire wool. Sandpaper. Oily cloth. Soapy rag. Don't rush to the power tools. And maybe you'll never need to. This would never be a star in the toolbox but it would be worth its place.

Years ago I was at a friend's house looking in a toolbox that had the mange. At the time I didn't know how the plastics degrade but I took one whiff and told my friend, Someone threw up in here!

Nice one Magdad👍👍👍

That screw driver came out excellent! Merry Christmas!

Nice restore...that driver is a really useful configuration for someone restoring things like machines, old furniture, tools or old houses. My mom used to call stuff that looked like your mange "creeping crud". She was a fan of "B" horror movies from the 50s. Merry Christmas and happy new year to you and yours!

Great job I have a few Stanleys I have to work on.

Looks like skydrol got to it. I have same tool for 30 years.

Another Fine Resto There Magdad!! I almost thought you'd decided not to repaint the blue portion of that handle, after all! I must say, you fooled me pretty good there, for a little bit!! LOL!! 😊 Wishing You & All Your Family, Friends, & Loved Ones, A VERY MERRY & BLESSED CHRISTMAS! 🎄⛄🎁 & A VERY HAPPY, BLESSED, & PROSPEROUS, NEW YEAR TOO!!! 🎉🥂🎊 God Bless, & Highest & Best Regards Always!! Your Subscriber & Faithful Viewer, Ron H. Abilene, TX.

Coolness!! I have a couple set aside waiting to see what you do with these; now I have some instruction on what to do on mine!! Coolness!!

Hard to believe how much better that mangy old screwdriver got. Well done Magdad! Merry Christmas!

Close to looking like a new one, great job .

I love the tools you used...I too love them...steel wool #0000, dermal tool...Fritz...thank you Sir...simple but fine video..."Mery Christmas" and A Happy New Year from Hawaii...

Merry Christmas to you and yours! That is my favorite Craftsman screwdriver. I will pick one up every time I see one. Thank you for your instructional videos.

Merry Christmas. I hope you have a good time with your family and next year you can continue doing what you like.

It’s looking nice

Merry Christmas to you and family. Thanks for sharing with us your Christmas time.

Very impressive👍

Great way to spend my Christmas morning coffee time! Thanks for posting this and for a great year of videos! Hope you and all the MagDads are having a peaceful Christmas Holiday!

You did a great job on the Craftsman Magdad! Thank You for sharing! I hope You and your family have a Merry Christmas

Great work Magdad, that was in a poor state but the price was right, well worth the effort as the tip was in such good condition, a tricky line to walk with repairing the dings but you got that just right I think. I received a set of the "Swpeet" abrasive wheels for Christmas so looking forward to trying them out soon ! Thanks for all your excellent content throughout the year, and best wishes to all in the family Magdad !

Cheap clear-ish blue coating. Draw a 1" filled-in circle with a blue Sharpie on glass (so in won't absorb). Add drops of clear nail polish (use yours, not the missus). Mix and give it a try.

Very good job, looks very nice, cheers ! MERRY CHRISTMAS 2022

Another great project. I like these short shaft screwdrivers. Your resto turned out great Merry Christmas to all.

I thought I heard Simple Green was also a big help with the Mange. Great job on this.

Excellent restoration! Just FYI - XCELITE tools get that mange if they’re left in a box and don’t get to the air. I’m not sure about craftsman I think they really are plastic, and that’s probably why it didn’t smell bad. But the XCELITE tools are not made of plastic even though they look like it - they are made out of a celluloid. Your Craftsman might’ve been in there next to one of those - I don’t know - but generally the craftsman are OK. But if the XCELITE are left sealed in a tool box without air or light for a long time they get that real powdery mange and it smells like vomit. You can prevent the mange if you leave the tools out in the air or expose them to air frequently. My XCELITE never got that until I retired and had them closed up in the toolbox for a long time. Interesting but weird….

I got one of those big stubbies in a 20 piece screwdriver set I bought at Sears back in the early 1980s. It's been handy. Mine never turned funny on me. The bad smell is caused by butyric acid and acetic acid. I've never found a cure for it. Though some do say to seal the tools.

Myself and Festus wish The Magdads and Chuck a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. The screw driver is very nice, a stubby blade and a regular size handle is very cool.

I had a translucent handle test light in a sealed tub- that had filled up with rain water. I made the mistake of cleaning the slime off with brake cleaner spray, resulting in what you call "the mange". Fine steel wool does do wonders though.

Looks great better than new! Merry Christmas ⛄⛄⛄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

Lovely job. Hope you are having a Merry Christmas. My best to you, Mrs Magdad, Magdaughter and the entire Mag fam.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!! Screwdriver turned very nice.

Merry Christmas!

Good job, those handles are surprisingly tough, I just removed one from the blade (which I gave to Scout Crafter) it took me about 30 minutes to separate Should have done green instead of the blue for X-mas

That’s a metric screwdriver. It gives you lecture about equality, and then says that screwdrivers shouldn’t have to work.

Merry CHRISTmas and Happy New year

Nice work, Merry Christmas to you and the whole 357 MAG bunch!