Among many things that a career mechanic finds silly, preposterous, fallacious or simply amusing on the Internet is how powersports media deals with the subject of the lowly--but to the professional, seriously important--screwdriver.

It shouldn't be a secret that there are no flat blade screwdrivers that actually work well on Hondas. Without tearing up the part, that is. Typically, a blade wide enough is too thick and one the proper thickness is too narrow. Holding out for the highest quality screwdrivers helps, but seldom do even these fit properly. And the situation is many times worse in regard to carburetors. Here especially, one has to custom-grind the available screwdriver offerings to get one that fits correctly, with the result that a half-dozen such customized screwdrivers are mandatory to do professional-level carburetor work. And it follows that since this kind of care must be exercised, it is not smart to use your screwdrivers as prying tools. Pros designate older beat up screwdrivers for this unique duty, or collect the appropriate purpose-made pry bars.

And stop using flat blade screwdrivers for those other tasks that obviously should not be done with screwdrivers. You know, those slotted engine maintenance covers, clutch adjusters, timing covers. How many of these are buggered up by the unintelligent use of screwdrivers! Yes, they instead require special tools. Some people use tire irons, others chunks of metal held in pliers. These will also mar the part. Honda long ago offered a 3-legged inspection cover driver for these, and although it is discontinued, Motion Pro makes a good knock-off. Use it.

Then there is the Phillips screwdriver. First, throw away those bargain table Phillips screwdrivers! You know, the ones with cheap transluscent yellow or orange or green handles and butter-soft, improperly-machined working ends that do violence to the screws and to themselves. Get Vessel or Hozan Phillips screwdrivers made to the JIS standard. While there have been properly made Phillips screwdrivers available for nearly a hundred years, i.e. way before JIS became a thing, going JIS makes it easy to get the right kind.

Even the very best screwdrivers need to be used correctly. The Phillips screws on vintage Honda engine covers are all #3. Don't use a #2 screwdriver on them. A lot of folks do this. Ideally, you should use a #3 JIS bit in a low-powered cordless impact, or at the very least a #3 T-Handle. Those screws should be more than finger-tight. And the screws that look like half-flat blade and half-Phillips? They aren't. You see them on vintage Honda four ignition plates for example. They are actually Taiwanese-spec flat blade, similar to the ones on your DVD player. Use a properly fitting flat blade screwdriver. Using a Phillips on them will tear them up.

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