Why flathead screws haven’t been completely phased out or replaced by Philips head screws
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It’s both a matter of type of use and personal preference.
But you have to realize that there are way more types of screw *head* than just flathead and Philips. Even limiting it to, say, flathead, the *shape* of the head varies. There is round head, button head, cheese head (yes, this is real), countersunk, oval head, etc.
And then the slot, or *drive*, types are flat and Philips, and also square, hex, star, spider, 12-point, one-way, snake eye, tri-wing, some that have a center pin for security, the list goes on.
There are different applications in which designers prefer to use a particular design, and for different uses. For the normal guy who just wants to put together, say, a back deck, it’s really not that important to research what he needs. He can just go to Home Depot and there are 10-pound boxes of countersunk screws (usually Philips/square/hex) that are labeled for outdoor use, they might even have a picture of a deck on them. The type of metal, coating, and length are really important in that regard.
As a personal anecdote, I need to buy about 80 short screws for my boat. They’ll be going on the top of the cabin. I’ll probably go with round or cheese head, because they need to hold down a sheet of fiberglass. They’ll be quality stainless to resist corrosion. And I’ll be using flathead drive so that any water that splashes into the head will drain out immediately and the screw will dry. A Philips drive screw will hold a drop of water inside for longer and make it more susceptible to saltwater corrosion.
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