The last few rounds of screws that I've bought were Deerwood black square drive screws from wwhardware.com.   I went looking there today and could not find screws on their web site.  Googling "deerwood screws" I found a number of places that sell them, but only in quantities of 10,000 or so. Anyone know of a place that sells them in 100-1000 unit quantities these days?

 

So then I looked at McFeely's and they have some that are the same or similar, but quite a bit more expensive for quantities of 100 to 1000.  The thing that surprised me though, is they used to be on the west side of the county, in Harrison, OH, as they were acquired by Midwest Dowel.  They even shared the factory building.  But searching on their site, I now see they are listed in "downtown" Aurora, IN, in a building that looks way too small and has no signage.  Anyone aware of what their status is?

All I know is that when I ordered a few things this past summer there was some diatribe on the website that they were now privately owned again, and they intend to bring back the great CS that the name used to have. You might check this page on their website. I know things with that order (I can't even remember what it was I got) went well.

Upon further research, their new site is just west of Lawrenceburg, IN.  That town lies on the Ohio River just on the Ohio-Indiana border.  So it's closer than I thought.

 

However, I sent a contact message to wwhardware to see if they still carry those screws, and they sent me a link and noted which screws that I had ordered in the past, only information that I gave them was an email address to respond to.   Good customer service.

https://www.wwhardware.com/ultimate-square-drive-flat-head-screws-8-scus8

Not that I'll be buying anything, but I am impressed with their site! A lot of info on taxes charged by Canada on imports and so on. Seems like a good place to deal with.

Disclaimer: I am not in any way connected to this business, and do not receive any income from recommending them!

Aurora isn't that far away from Lawrenceburg, as I recall. But it's been a long time since I visited there.

Hello,  I moved McFeelys out of Ohio in the middle of 2023. The building we have is an old bank with about 15,000 sq ft., about the same space we leased in Harrison, Oh.

 

The company was started in Virginia, sold to Grainger, and moved to Wisconsin. Grainger relabeled all of the inventory to SKUs that did not match the catalog or the website. It would seem they planned to sell McF for a long time and changed the history of McFeelys in a bad way. The dowel company sold me McFeelys in 2017.  In 2023, they sold the building and Midwest Dowels to Cindoco, another dowel company.  Our location in Harrison was class B warehouse space with no retail. The move to Indiana allowed for retail space. We have a small store open during the week. This lower overhead with foot traffic has been great for McFeelys.

 

We carry the premium Roberson screws. We have a spec that they build for us. Since we do most of our packaging, we find problems before they are sent out. The pricing of screws is very connected to the cost of freight. When checking prices, the freight policy is a big deal! 

 

We look forward to helping you. In the past month, we have required clients to log in to make a purchase. The main reason for the change is that it gives us a more secure site for credit cards. Some of the accounts going back 10 years are gone. We ask that you log in before shopping. Carts can get lost if you log in at check out.

 

I also want your feedback. Reviews are great. As a small company, we can help with special projects or special order items. The markets are always changing and we need to learn from you what we do right or wrong and get better.

 

Tim G.

 Welcome to the website @TimG and thanks for responding to the topic. @John Morris would Tim be permitted to post a working link to his site, we have two posted above but I'm not sure which one we are trying to find. Thanks

Edited February 23, 20251 yr by DuckSoup

Tim, if you even come close to getting McFeely's back to the state it was before Grainger fracked things up I'd be grateful. I would especially like to see those wonderful ⚀ drive screwdrivers that McFeelys used to carry come back; they were much nicer then the Klein lineup.

We originally bought Robertson Square drive screws. They were really good, but like anything shops went to a. Cheap brand that worked well. As far as screws around the shop there are many online sources now, better if you have an account and get the discounts., 

 

I’ll share this. Mcfeeley is not a common shop name in cabinet and commercial  shops

Edited February 23, 20251 yr by BillyJack

I always liked McFeely's in the days before the Grainger take over.  It was pre-internet, at least for me, and they had a great catalog of hard to find tools on top of the great selection of screws.  The shop I worked for around that time also went cheap on square drive screws, but working in that place did sell me on the effectiveness of the square drive.  I'm glad to see McFeely's back in business and out from under Grainger.  I've long had mixed feelings about their operation, and while they had some high quality stuff, I never felt that their business model was a good idea.

Thanks for the update.  I've been in the Cincinnati area for 45 years, west side, east side, NE side.   The old dowel factory was just a few miles from my west side home,

 

I shared your comments with the Cincinnati Woodworker's Club. We have over 700 followers on Facebook.

Edited February 25, 20251 yr by kmealy