What is an end wrench

[whateg01]

I have box end wrenches, open end wrenches, combination wrenches. So, all of those are end wrenches, or as I call them wrenches. I don't have any wrenches that are middle wrenches. So when y'all say you have an end wrench, what are you referring to?

 

[MichaelP]

Socket?

P.S. I, personally, never use this term, but I think some people call open wrenches "end wrenches".

 

[YesIHaveAHammer]

In our shop, the terms have been as follows, since the days I was a kid and my grandfather was still around:

Wrench = combination wrench
Ring wrench = double ring end wrench
Double ended wrench = double open end wrench (only used for BSP hydraulic fittings)

If someone said "end wrench" to save on words, I'd figure they meant double open end.

 

[neophyte]

Tubular wrenches, and T-Handle wrenches exist, and have for decades.

 

[four.cycle]

Not a clue.
Mr. Buranen would make you wear a dunce cap and sit in the corner on a stool if you called a tool by the wrong name.
So we learned the difference between open-end wrench, combination wrench, double-end box wrench, and adjustable wrench.
No problem.

Not a clue what an "end wrench" is. Sounds like a catch-all term somebody picked up from their father.

 

[Beerhippie]

I was raised to use "end wrench" as a catch-all for fixed-end wrenches--as opposed to ratchets or sockets. Within the category are box end, ratcheting box end, open end (all single or double) and combination wrenches.

But we were a simple folk....

 

[Cruzan80]

I am thinking single ended wrench (either open, or like a lathe wrench).

 

[Lorydr]

I was raised to use "end wrench" as a catch-all for fixed-end wrenches--as opposed to ratchets or sockets. Within the category are box end, ratcheting box end, open end (all single or double) and combination wrenches.

But we were a simple folk....

Good. I have to add to that...Line wrench for the HVAC.

 

[Beerhippie]

Good. I have to add to that...Line wrench for the HVAC.

And brake lines. And whatever has flare nuts.

 

[yatg]

An end wrench is the last wrench you own.
A begin wrench is the first wrench you own.
Clear?

And then there's the fukung wrench you can't ever find when you need it.

 

[four.cycle]

An end wrench is the last wrench you own

I was thinking exactly that earlier this afternoon...

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I was raised to use "end wrench" as a catch-all for fixed-end wrenches--as opposed to ratchets or sockets. Within the category are box end, ratcheting box end, open end (all single or double) and combination wrenches.

But we were a simple folk....

...who were well-versed in terminology with a long-standing history in the common literature of the hand tools industry. It was a well-documented trade term, synonymous with open end wrench for many years, because there was no need to qualify it further before the invention of box end wrenches.




After box end wrenches (made with square and other openings for special tasks by blacksmiths for centuries, but ca. 1926, and credited by many to P&C, with uniform hex openings on uniform shanks) and combo wrenches (Plomb, 1937), they all became end wrenches.

 

[OccupantRJ]

I was raised to use "end wrench" as a catch-all for fixed-end wrenches--as opposed to ratchets or sockets. Within the category are box end, ratcheting box end, open end (all single or double) and combination wrenches.

But we were a simple folk....

Case quarter.

 

[SteveCh]

Without really trying to initiate thread drift, but still on the subject of wrenches, my brother-in-law and I, the other day, were pondering the term "socket wrench." We are both in our 70s, have thousands of hand tools [it would seem] between us, and we never came to a resolution of what a socket wrench is. Ratchet with a socket? I still haven't figured it.

 

[Beerhippie]

Without really trying to initiate thread drift, but still on the subject of wrenches, my brother-in-law and I, the other day, were pondering the term "socket wrench." We are both in our 70s, have thousands of hand tools [it would seem] between us, and we never came to a resolution of what a socket wrench is. Ratchet with a socket? I still haven't figured it.

Growing up, a "socket wrench" was a rat with a socket on it. Neither one is all that useful alone--except as a hammer or press die.

 

[neophyte]

Without really trying to initiate thread drift, but still on the subject of wrenches, my brother-in-law and I, the other day, were pondering the term "socket wrench." We are both in our 70s, have thousands of hand tools [it would seem] between us, and we never came to a resolution of what a socket wrench is. Ratchet with a socket? I still haven't figured it.

A socket type opening on the end of a T-handle or L shaped bent wrench handle is what the term is usually used for nowadays, and maybe that was the classical meaning as well.
“Socket WrenchSet ” meaning a socket on a ratchet or breaker bar is also used, and has been for decades.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

my brother-in-law and I, the other day, were pondering the term "socket wrench."

Between the 1880's and 1919, "sockets" - as we know them today - were largely not detachable. They were permanently affixed (forged, welded, pinned, or press-fit) to handles, straight, straight with a tee, or offset, and even speeders, usually with a hex (6 point) or square service opening. They were known, indubitably, and still are, as "socket wrenches". During that same time, detachable sockets and handles were invented, but they were crude and made of pressed steel, at first, then machined, and eventually, in 1920, forged and broached (by American Grinder, which would eventually change their name to the brand name they chose to market them - Blackhawk), most closely resembling the sockets and separate handles (ratchet, sliding tee, flex head (or "breaker", colloquially), speeder, etc) to turn them that we know today.

Fixed socket wrenches were still being made for special use cases, lug nuts, machinery, etc, well through the 1950's, still are for some industries, and they are still very popular with automotive mechanics in Europe and Asia.

Some of mine below.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

...maybe that was the classical meaning as well.

No maybe about it.

 

[four.cycle]

my brother-in-law and I, the other day, were pondering the term "socket wrench."

There's a lengthy and in-depth thread about this, which started out as "Is it a ratchet, or a wrench, or a ratchet wrench?" and evolved into a discussion about "proper nomenclature" and "colloquial euphemisms".
The "socket wrench" was (as noted) a socket affixed to a handle (straight, "T"-shaped, or otherwise.)
The term "Socket Wrench" came to be applied to the sockets themselves by some manufacturers:

Indestro 1209C 10 pc 1.2 hex dr SAE socket set (photo: ebay)

It's a set of "Auto Socket Wrenches".
We've got sockets. We've got an "ell" handle. We've got a little drive adapter widget. And we've got a 1308 closed-head ratchet.
Where's the "wrench"? I guess you could call the "ell" handle a "wrench", right? Or you could call the ratchet a "ratchet wrench", too, right?

Only when the other person doesn't clearly understand what it is you are talking about is this a problem. Otherwise, it's not a problem.

 

[sparky 1971]

I've never referred to anything as an end wrench but I had a friend that was a heavy equipment mechanic for 30+ years that would call combination wrenches "end wrenches".

 

[redwrench60]

A lot of this has to do with the age of a person and the region they grew up in.

To me an “end wrench” is an abbreviation of open end wrench. You had box wrenches and open end wrenches and that was common to hear from the graybeards when I was young. Now that combination wrenches are the popular norm, all those older terms are disappearing along with the men who used them.

Socket wrenches are just ratchets now. Nobody I know calls them socket wrenches anymore,

 

[jayemm]

An end wrench is the last wrench you own.
A begin wrench is the first wrench you own.
Clear?

And then there's the fukung wrench you can't ever find when you need it.

fukung A right

 

[65ranchero]

It is what you "end" up with after going to countless GS or ES

 

[Private Lugnutz]

A lot of this has to do with the age of a person and the region they grew up in.

Agreed.

Socket wrenches are just ratchets now. Nobody I know calls them socket wrenches anymore,

For what it's worth to your first point, I never called a ratchet a socket wrench, and I've never heard anyone else call them that, either, not even the gray beards before I had peachfuzz.

While I understand and don't disagree with @Beerhippie 's point about either piece (sockets and ratchets, or any handle) being useless without the other, and you do practically need both pieces, the socket and a handle, to make it a whole "socket wrench"...



...the socket, as the piece with a 12-, 8-, 6- or 4-point service opening that directly engages with the fastener, is technically the wrench, and, even though it would be mighty hard to turn one in most circumstances without a handle, any handle, whether that be a ratchet, a "breaker" bar, a sliding tee or a speeder, it would and will turn, and I dare say we've all started a nut or bolt with just a socket in our hand in some cases and applications.

Despite industrial catalogs referring to the whole system of tools, at the set level, as "socket wrenches," if you want to buy individual pieces, the sockets have a different nomenclature than the handles and always have.

The military was even more explicit:

 

[rsanter]

I always considered ”end wrench” to be short for open end wrench, but thats just me.

now if you want a mid wrench or middle wrench, here ya go…..

 

[Wamsutta]

This is an end wrench. With its shallow 10 degree offset, you have to be on the 'end' of something to get any knuckle clearance.

 

[zendriver]

I'm a big believer in "AI" which states it is an open end wrench.

Kind of makes sense, since earlier wrenches were opened on both ends.

 

[Tchicken]

A lot of this has to do with the age of a person and the region they grew up in.

To me an “end wrench” is an abbreviation of open end wrench. You had box wrenches and open end wrenches and that was common to hear from the graybeards when I was young. Now that combination wrenches are the popular norm, all those older terms are disappearing along with the men who used them.

Socket wrenches are just ratchets now. Nobody I know calls them socket wrenches anymore,

+1 - My Gramp was a bus mechanic in the Roaring 20's, and he would use the terms "End Wrench" and "Box Wrench". I have only a few of his tools still, but none is what we moderns refer to as a combination.

 

[rooster59]

I always thought it was "Hey Brian, toss me a 3/4 end wrench" meaning something anything with a 3/4" open end. Some guys like me have sets of double open end wrenches and sets of double box wrenches. Plus combination wrenches. Sets of combination wrenches I think are a newer thing, like 30's 40's newer.

 

[redwrench60]

Growing up, my dad had a set of what we call double box wrenches and a set of double open end wrenches. No combination wrenches at all. That was what he knew and how he used wrenches to fix everything. Having two wrenches, box and open in the same size allowed you to hold the bolt or nut with one and tighten or loosen with the other. This gave more options before everybody had a drawer full of specialty wrenches. The open ends were shorter which allows access in tighter spaces and the box end were longer for leverage and nicely offset for knuckle clearance.

Sometimes I wonder if this approach is superior to just combination wrenches.

 

[neophyte]

I'm a big believer in "AI" which states it is an open end wrench.

Kind of makes sense, since earlier wrenches were opened on both ends.

AI sometimes *****.

Wiss manufactured “Special Hardness” snips, up until at least the early 2000s, and started manufacturing the “Special Hardness” snips as far back as at least the 1960s, and Wiss specified the “Special Hardness” snips for titanium, stainless steel, and inconel even back during the 1960s, so a period of 50 years or more.
Wiss no longer seems to manufacture snips designated as “special hardness”, although there seem to be some more recent Wiss snips without the “special hardness” designation that do mention titanium and stainless steel cutting in the specs.
Somehow, Google’s “AI” can’t seem to realize that the Wiss snips existed, thinking the “special hardness” designation only applies to the Midwest version, even though the Wiss did exist, and were available for sale, while Google was indexing the internet.

 

[neophyte]

Growing up, my dad had a set of what we call double box wrenches and a set of double open end wrenches. No combination wrenches at all. That was what he knew and how he used wrenches to fix everything. Having two wrenches, box and open in the same size allowed you to hold the bolt or nut with one and tighten or loosen with the other. This gave more options before everybody had a drawer full of specialty wrenches. The open ends were shorter which allows access in tighter spaces and the box end were longer for leverage and nicely offset for knuckle clearance.

Sometimes I wonder if this approach is superior to just combination wrenches.

The system has the advantage of having two wrenches of the same size in case a nut and bolt head of the same size are needed.

 

[redwrench60]

The system has the advantage of having two wrenches of the same size in case a nut and bolt head of the same size are needed.

I’ve wondered if it’s not the better system honestly.

Here’s dads old “end wrench” set. Guess which little **** head left the 3/4”x 7/8” wrench outside in the grass and lost it for a few months back in the day…..
It’s scarred for life lol.

 

[john.k]

A t least the mower didnt find it .

 

[Steve W.]

Small detour here.

Mr. Buranen would make you wear a dunce cap and sit in the corner on a stool if you called a tool by the wrong name.

Many years ago, in Reader's Digest's Humor in Uniform column:

A motor pool Sergeant had spent the morning giving a lecture to a bunch of new recruits on 'selecting and using the proper tool'. Later that afternoon, he was walking through the garage and heard one recruit call out to another, "Hey, Charlie, toss me that wrench." Sergeant called out "Private, what kind of wrench?" The private replied "Oh, it doesn't matter, I'm going to use it for a hammer, anyway,"

.

 

[finn]

Not a clue.
Mr. Buranen would make you wear a dunce cap and sit in the corner on a stool if you called a tool by the wrong name.
So we learned the difference between open-end wrench, combination wrench, double-end box wrench, and adjustable wrench.
No problem.

Not a clue what an "end wrench" is. Sounds like a catch-all term somebody picked up from their father.

You forgot tube wrench, or often called a line wrench.

 

[john.k]

Tube wrenches were the cheapest and nastiest tools from low priced car tool kits .....they inevitably returned to the round tube when any force was put on them.

 

[four.cycle]

You forgot tube wrench, or often called a line wrench.

"flare nut wrench"

 

[whateg01]

You forgot tube wrench, or often called a line wrench.

Tube wrenches were the cheapest and nastiest tools from low priced car tool kits .....they inevitably returned to the round tube when any force was put on them.

"flare nut wrench"

So, now that "end wrench" isn't settled, is a tube wrench a flare nut wrench, a wrench for working with hydraulic lines, or a socket made from pipe?

ETA: maybe these should have been polls!

 

[four.cycle]

^ didn't realize that there were also "obstruction wrenches", "manifold and starter wrenches" (aka "half-moon" wrench), door hinge wrenches ("S wrench"), distributor wrenches, and brake bleeder wrenches until I got on a parts counter.