How Screwdrivers Became a Museum of Bad Decisions

Ever wondered why your IKEA furniture requires three different screwdrivers? This episode traces the strange history of screw drives — from hand-filed iron screws in the 1760s to the battle between Robertson's brilliant square drive and Phillips's deliberately flawed cross design. Discover why Canada almost standardized the world's screws, how an assembly line problem created the Phillips head we all love to hate, and why the "better" screw lost to the one designed to fail at exactly the right moment. A story of patents, stubbornness, and physics that explains why your toolbox is full of incompatible bits.