Wrinkled Black Oxide Wrench

[Merkava_4]

I'm hoping that the finish is wrinkled and not the steel itself. Whenever I've had chrome chip off a Snap-on wrench, the steel underneath the chrome has always been smooth. It's just the black oxide finish that's wrinkled right?

 

[Deafautotech]

i would said it is normal as i do own 1/2 wrench as industry wrench... it is same what you show the picture...

 

[Deafautotech]

I'm hoping that the finish is wrinkled and not the steel itself. Whenever I've had chrome chip off a Snap-on wrench, the steel underneath the chrome has always been smooth. It's just the black oxide finish that's wrinkled right?

if you dont like the wrinkle then sell it... unless you dont care about the wrinkle???

 

[ImportTuner]

Nope ... the wrench is wrinkled; the black oxide coating is very thin ...

 

[Merkava_4]

Hi Andy,

Lets pretend for a moment that the wrench is not black oxide; would a polished chrome Snap-on wrench be rough underneath the chrome?!!? In other words, what's making the open end in the picture so rough on top; is it the black oxide finish, or is the steel itself rough?!!?

 

[Merkava_4]

Nope ... the wrench is wrinkled; the black oxide coating is very thin ...

So you're saying that a chrome wrench would be rough underneath the chrome?!!?

 

[krusty the clown]

So you're saying that a chrome wrench would be rough underneath the chrome?!!?

no....thats the way the wrench looks before it's polished. chrome plated wrenches are polished smooth before it's plated. industial finish wrenches are not.

 

[filthy]

There is no way chrome plating can hide defects/roughness in the finish. THat is an industrial wrench... It is "meant" to be rough....

Relax!!!!!!!!!!!!! think happy thoughts... happy thoughts....happy thoughts....

 

[Merkava_4]

no....thats the way the wrench looks before it's polished. chrome plated wrenches are polished smooth before it's plated. industial finish wrenches are not.

So they would polish a wrench to be plated before it's plated and then again after it's plated to achieve the mirror luster?

There is no way chrome plating can hide defects/roughness in the finish. THat is an industrial wrench... It is "meant" to be rough....

Relax!!!!!!!!!!!!! think happy thoughts... happy thoughts....happy thoughts....

This wrench is bugging me!

It looks like a cast iron wood stove!

I have a STRONG impulse to sand it smooth!

 

[Deafautotech]

Hi Andy,

Lets pretend for a moment that the wrench is not black oxide; would a polished chrome Snap-on wrench be rough underneath the chrome?!!? In other words, what's making the open end in the picture so rough on top; is it the black oxide finish, or is the steel itself rough?!!?

hi,

Remember the Craftsman's matte wrenches are always rough feeling while craftsman's pro wrenches are polishes but it get chipping really easy...

i would not worry about it unless your hands barks on you because your hands dont like wrinkle feeling??? ha ha ha i am sorry if it is offense you...

 

[filthy]

This wrench is bugging me!

It looks like a cast iron wood stove!

I have a STRONG impulse to sand it smooth!

Alot of people and things bug the hell out of me. Can't do anything about it. Same thing with your wrench... Sell it if it causes yo to lose sleep.

 

[Merkava_4]

hi,

Remember the Craftsman's matte wrenches are always rough feeling while craftsman's pro wrenches are polishes but it get chipping really easy...

Yeah! The open end looks just like a C-MAN raised panel!

Now I know why the industrial wrenches don't sell on eBay!

I'm glad I only paid $5.00 for it!

 

[krusty the clown]

yep.......sanding it smooth is the first step in polishing! the major work in chrome plating is prep, sanding and polishing. any imperfection in the part to be plated will show.

 

[krusty the clown]

here's a quick explanation of the process.......

http://www.spschrome.com/plating.asp

 

[Stanger]

Merkava, this is one wrench you won't have to worry about hurting the finish. Finally a tool you can use!

 

[wrenchr]

For the chrome finish there is more polishing before plating.

 

[Stuey]

ARGH

Don't you remember that other post where I put a lot of effort into describing the different between black oxide and chrome coatings for you?

Black oxide is a very very VERY thin oxide layer. In other words, it can be considered to be a surface film. Interpreting this information, and given the approximate very thin thickness of an industrial coating, the logical assumption is that it is the STEEL itself that is "wrinkled."

Sanding the wrench will do nothing. You're going to have grind the wrench down to a relatively uniform thickness and then sand it down and then polish it. Be careful though, because then the wrench might rust easily.

My advice - use it as-is, and be proud of your wrinkled wrench. Industrially finished tools aren't meant to be shiny.

 

[eschoendorff]

Lemme offer a different explanation...


How cold was it in the room when you took the picture? Looks like that wrench just has goosebumps.

 

[Merkava_4]

The wrench was at room temperature in the kitchen on top of the microwave during that photo shoot.

Thanks to krusty, wrenchr, and Stuey for the excellent explanations! I can relax now.

I think I'm going to leave the wrench the way it is; although a Roloc disc would've cleaned it up nicely.

 

[krusty the clown]

a belt sander would be the way to go

 

[Uncle Buck]

OMG, it's a simple hand wrench, if was that big a deal why in the world did you buy the ****** thing to begin with! Use it, scratch it, chip it, wipe the grease off then toss in in yer box and forget about it till you need it again but please please quit analyzing the ****** thing!

 

[Stuey]

Looking at it again, it does not look like black oxide.

Also, is it smooth to the touch? This is a farfetched theory, but perhaps what we're seeing are grains in the steel? I'm touching a Craftsman raised panel wrench, and it's smooth.

I'm printing a copy of the photo you gave us, and will seek the opinion of a metallurgist on Tuesday.

Edit: Okay, so a few years ago when I was at a different graduate program, I had to polish some solder samples for microscopy. We took polished it up to 1200 grit, and then switched to diamond paste. For the final stages, we used chemicals to etch the material so that the grains would be accentuated and highlighted. What if the wrench underwent a rough polishing process, and to save costs, instead of moving up with incrementally finer grits, polishing was done to a certain "finger-smooth" grit and then chemically etched to remove any residual scratches, and to provide a surface for the oxide layer to bite onto?

 

[Merkava_4]

Looking at it again, it does not look like black oxide.

Also, is it smooth to the touch?

It's smooth along the side of the open end and along the edge of the beam, but it's rough on the large flat area in the photo. The outside radius of the box end is smooth.

I'm thinking the forging dies are rough in some areas.

 

[wrenchr]

The more you use it the better it will feel.

 

[Merkava_4]

The more you use it the better it will feel.

It feels completely different from my polished chrome 11mm.

It's sticky; if it was soaked in transmission fluid, it still wouldn't be slippery.

 

[wrenchr]

I had some of those black oxide wrenchs before and the more I used them they smoothed out.

 

[Merkava_4]

I've got a Snap-on 12mm impact socket and it's smooth; I was expecting the wrench to be the same way.

 

[DavidtheDuke]

It feels completely different from my polished chrome 11mm.

It's sticky; if it was soaked in transmission fluid, it still wouldn't be slippery.

In many cases that is a good thing.

 

[Merkava_4]

I forgot to mention! When I was holding the chrome 11mm side by side with the black 11mm, the chrome 11mm definitely has a thinner open end. I wish I had a dial caliper!

 

[ImportTuner]

The wrench was at room temperature in the kitchen on top of the microwave during that photo shoot.

Thanks to krusty, wrenchr, and Stuey for the excellent explanations! I can relax now.

I think I'm going to leave the wrench the way it is; although a Roloc disc would've cleaned it up nicely.

Yeah, but if you hit it with a Roloc, it will start rusting ...

 

[eschoendorff]

Yeah, but if you hit it with a Roloc, it will start rusting ...

I have a Snap On 3/4" deep impact socket that I bought new off the truck... now it's covered in surface rust. Never touched it with a roloc or steel wool or anything. Any ideas on how to deal with the rust? i have it soaking in some ATF right now...

 

[ImportTuner]

I have a Snap On 3/4" deep impact socket that I bought new off the truck... covered in surface rust. Never touched it with a roloc or steel wool or anything. Any ideas on how to deal with the rust? i have it soaking in some ATF right now...

I bought some rust dissolver from Eastwood for body work, but it works great on tools ... had an older puller, totally rusted, soaked for 2 hours in this stuff and came out total clean ...

http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?itemID=11122&itemType=PRODUCT

 

[Merkava_4]

Any ideas on how to deal with the rust?

That purple Scotch-Brite will take that rust right off.

 

[wilbilt]

If it's any condolence, that industrial finish is pretty tough stuff.

I have some really old wrenches (Blue Point from the 1930s-1940s) that are sort of gray looking, but not rusted. In contrast, my 1980s Snap-On chrome wrenches will start rusting if I turn my back on them for a few days.

 

[wrenchr]

If you use them they will not rust!!!!! lol

 

[Stuey]

I forgot to mention! When I was holding the chrome 11mm side by side with the black 11mm, the chrome 11mm definitely has a thinner open end. I wish I had a dial caliper!

A) You don't want a dial calipers. If you're against digital ones, get a vernier. Not only will you impress your buddies by beaing able to actually read the scale, you'll be able to spit out metric or SAE measurements at any given time. As far as I'm aware, dial calipers usually come in metric OR SAE.

B) Have you considered that the wrenches could be produced by different factories? Even if they're the same brand, the wrenches could have come from anywhere, or any time. Maybe the factory decided to change the tooling someday, and wrenches from two different moments in time will be slightly different in tolerances.

C) Have you considered that two chromed 11mm wrenches might have slightly different dimensions? Or two black oxide wrenches? You cannot make a judgement on any two dissimilar coated wrenches without first examining other wrenches of similar types. That's like having two children, a boy and a girl, where the girl is better at sports and stunt performing and the boy better at poetry and clothes shopping and using those characterizations to define constituents of both genders. Or let's put it this way. A buddy gives you two wrenches - a Snap-On and a Harbor Freight. The SO breaks during its first use due to invisible internal flaws previously aggravated by years of reliable use, and the HF works flawless. Not knowing anything else, a naive person would say that HF makes better wrenches than SO. In other words, stopping jumping to invalid conclusions without concrete evidence.

D) Next time you're on the SO truck, as to examine 10 11mm wrenches (or whatever size your dealer has the most wrenches of. Ask to measure them with a pair of SO calipers. Post the results to us!!

 

[wilbilt]

If you use them they will not rust!!!!! lol

Of course.

I haven't used them professionally since about 1999. It's difficult to keep them greasy these days. The old Blue Points just lie there in the box and don't rust, though.

 

[Merkava_4]

It's quite apparent to me that the chrome 11mm open end is thinner because it underwent a polishing stage to remove the die marks in preparation for plating like krusty said.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Looks for all the world like the head of the wrench was shot peened.

Now.... throw the thing in your tool box and forget about it. If it continues to bother you either sell it on Ebay, give it away, or throw it away.............

Charles

 

[Merkava_4]

What I'm wondering is if all the SO industrial wrenches look that rough; this wrench is brand new supposedly.