Certain things like bikes, cars, and furniture use hexagonal bolts for fastening. Hex bolts can only be used with the right diameter key and they don’t slip like Phillips and Flatheads. Also, the hexagonal tip keeps bolts from falling so you don’t need a magnet to hold your fasteners. Furthermore, it’s easy to identify which Allen key you need for each fastener, and you can use ballpoint hex keys if you need to work at an angle.
Since the hex bolt design is so practical, why don’t we use this type of fastener for everything? Why don’t we see hex wood screws and hex drywall screws ?
Edit : I’m asking about fasteners in general (like screws, bolts, etc)
In: Engineering
You question is actually kind of interesting. The answer lies in torsion and the strength of the head or grooves used to turn the screw. Basically, engineers want you to have a simple enough head to turn, but won’t be damaged in application by the torsion you might *reasonably* apply to the screw. So a slotted screw is ideal for simplicity’s sake, but a Philip’s or “Cross” adds more torsion, and so on, moving the points of contact from the inside of the screw head to the outside.
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