I reached for it today, to turn a screw in an awkward spot, and realized something: We go back at least 40 years together. That’s a good while to keep an everyday thing close by, or in your pocket, and not lose it down a storm drain or leave it in a bar. It’s a Craftsman four-size flat head screw tool, about the size of a Kennedy half-dollar. I’ve kept it on key chains and used it for all kinds of things — loosening an old screw or starting a new one in a tight spot, prying open paint cans, or just holding it between thumb and forefinger and rubbing it the way a Greek man I once knew rubbed a worry stone. It came with a set of screwdrivers I bought at Sears in the Hunt Valley Mall, back when I was a new homeowner. Sears, once the world’s biggest retailer, is just about gone; it went into bankruptcy five years ago, and only a few full-line stores remain. What I have here is a relic, and a still useful one.
Published by Dan Rodricks
Dan Rodricks is a long-time columnist for The Baltimore Sun, winner of numerous national and regional journalism awards, a radio and TV personality, podcaster and fly angler. His narrative memoir, "Father's Day Creek," was published in May 2019 by Apprentice House at Loyola University Maryland. View all posts by Dan Rodricks
Dan Rodricks 
A lot of us carry around all-purpose pocket tools in case we get in a jamb, especially musicians in the “gig bag”. It might be interesting to put together a photo album of such tools.
Dick S.
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I keep my drum key handy.
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My Dad worked for Sears for 30 years!! Everything we had was from Sears, tools, appliances. He is passed on now, but I still have some of those tools! Thanks.
Kate Phelan
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I had my first eye exam at the Sears store at Harfor Road and North Avenue when I was in the fourth grade at Parkville School that reslted in my first glasses and a neighborhood nickname of “The Professor.” My parents bought everything out ot their massive catalog that even included entire prefabricated homes and my first two-wheeler, a Kenmore!
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I have a workshop full of Craftsman tools, some older than my marriage (nearly a half century), many I use nearly every day. The one piece of advice my sainted Father-in-law gave me was to buy Craftsman tools, they’re lifetime guaranteed. Of course he couldn’t foresee Sears going out of business, so I guess that was Sears’s lifetime, not mine.
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