Martin Tools

[FSUwelder1212]

Hi everyone, I am a welding engineer in tier 1 automotive and have been looking for a specific tool, a thin 17mm open end wrench with a compact head to adjust M12 barrel proxes in tight spaces on our tooling. My search hasn’t yielded much except for a Martin tools 17mm “check nut wrench” . It looks like it is my best option but I’ve never heard of this brand before, or seen it discussed on the forum. Does anyone have any experience or insight with Martin tools? I have no doubt the wrench will be fine as this is a very low torque application, I’m just curious about the brand.

 

[1982fxr]

They make a lot of gears and stuff. Expensive bodywork hammers. It's been suggested their wrenches are Wright's. They also sell angle wrenches.

Not sure what they actually make and what's rebranded as far as tools...

 

[mautotech]

If you dont need to put a ton of torque to it, a Park Tools 17mm cone wrench will work well.
I use cone wrenches for all kinds of things besides bicycle cones and they work great.

 

[Professional Tool User]

Martin tools are best known for their autobody tools. Their stuff is not cheap and I would expect high quality.

 

[pstemari]

Martin makes a bunch of hydraulic/pump wrenches: single open ends with fairly short handles. Their stuff isn't pretty—somewhat rough "satin" finish, usually in a black that seems to be mill scale—but extremely functional. Made in US. I have a pair of 1"ers that I use for tightening the coolers on my Taig mill. I also have a small DOE: Martin was the only one I found in 11/32”, to fit 8-32 nuts iirc.

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[vssjim]

Their tools are made in Fort Worth at one of the Martin Factories in that area, They bought Fairmont tool company back in the seventies and moved it to Texas from Ohio. They upgraded expanded the line and they make a lot of the industrial type wrenches for everybody private label and do sell through mostly industrial suppliers. Their hydraulic, angle and check nut wrenches are a industry standard for strength. They make a lot of body tools and private label those for tool trucks and others in the body tools sales biz.

 

[ex_nihilo]

I have Martin linesmen pliers in several sizes, side cutters, channel lock type pliers. I also had a full set of 1/2" metric sockets. All stamped US and high quality in my estimation (non-professional). I have purchased SK, Snap On, Wright, and Proto sockets new and I feel the Martin's were equal to them all in quality.

I scored then all on the big auction site, lightly used for next to nothing because they are so unknown.



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[Indexmill]

Martin wrenches are just fine. If they have what you need, then buy it.

 

[1982fxr]

Their tools are made in Fort Worth at one of the Martin Factories in that area, They bought Fairmont tool company back in the seventies and moved it to Texas from Ohio. They upgraded expanded the line and they make a lot of the industrial type wrenches for everybody private label and do sell through mostly industrial suppliers. Their hydraulic, angle and check nut wrenches are a industry standard for strength. They make a lot of body tools and private label those for tool trucks and others in the body tools sales biz.

How did they get into auto body tools? It seems out of place.

 

[dnschmidt]

They bought Fairmont which was a leading supplier of autobody hammers and dollies. Their autobody tools are considered industry standard.

 

[Steiger9]

I've got a large set of their chromed service wrenches, which look similar in design to the check nut wrenches. They're drop forged but with the opening laser(?) cut. They use the same blank for several sizes so jaw width will vary. Some get ridiculously narrow before it jumps to the next size blank.

I don't have metric, but I can get you some pics/measurements of my 11/16 if that'll help.

 

[neophyte]

Hi everyone, I am a welding engineer in tier 1 automotive and have been looking for a specific tool, a thin 17mm open end wrench with a compact head to adjust M12 barrel proxes in tight spaces on our tooling. My search hasn’t yielded much except for a Martin tools 17mm “check nut wrench” . It looks like it is my best option but I’ve never heard of this brand before, or seen it discussed on the forum. Does anyone have any experience or insight with Martin tools? I have no doubt the wrench will be fine as this is a very low torque application, I’m just curious about the brand.

Martin wrenches to a certain extent are “Fugly”, but they seem to be made out of very tough steel.

Currently, for Check Nut wrenches, Martin and Proto are the two main manufacturers, and it wouldn’t surprise me if the Proto wrenches were made by Martin, since I recall Martin coming up as a supplier for Stanley Tools at one point, and Stanley owns Proto.
Armstrong used to sell Check Nut wrenches as well, but I think only fractional, and in a limited number of sizes.
Martin may also manufactur the doubke end angle wrenches that some other manufacturers offer.

 

[neophyte]

I've got a large set of their chromed service wrenches, which look similar in design to the check nut wrenches. They're drop forged but with the opening laser(?) cut. They use the same blank for several sizes so jaw width will vary. Some get ridiculously narrow before it jumps to the next size blank.

I don't have metric, but I can get you some pics/measurements of my 11/16 if that'll help.

Using the same size wrench blank may go back to Fairmount Tools.
Martin still uses an old numbering system for some wrench models, and the numbering system has “A” and “B” suffixes for some wrench sizes.