I am surprised that
@Dave455 has not chimed in!
Keep in mind, at one point, 50-odd years ago, ratchets were not as common as they are now and they were expensive! The clés à pipes were a clever and cost effective solution at a time when ratchets were an expensive luxury to tradesmen.
Even Dave has to work sometime!
I think that when you are used to working a certain way, and using certain tools, it’s sometimes difficult to get your head around different ways of working.
If I see an unusual tool, especially one that sees a lot of use in a particular industry or country, I always reckon it’s worth seeing what the advantages may be.
I first started paying attention to these wrenches probably 30 years ago. Most of the older ones I had seen were of lesser quality, but I was quite impressed by the quality of the Facom.
There are some advantages. They completely surround the fastener, engaging on all corners, and engage to full depth too, even on non standard deep fasteners. In my case these were the first 6 point wrenches I bought, and I’ve always found them good on difficult fasteners.
As M6erfan points out, there are some cases where they are by far the best tool for the job. I find mine useful when I specifically don’t want to carry small parts that are easily lost, so they’re good away from base,
But personally I just find them nice to use, and as most of us do what we do for enjoyment, why not!
Downsides, I accept, are the relatively short length, and the weight. For those reasons I largely omit these from my road box now, and I tend to favour them in smaller sizes. But there’s nothing better to chuck in a pocket if you need to carry out simple tasks like working on electrical terminals.
You know you're not alone!
