No Icon Adjustable Wrench?

[Renegade1LI]

So the few Icon tools I have I like, especially the digital torque wrench. But I'm surprised there is no adjustable wrench, really don't care for the pittsburgh or doyle. I need to buy some for work & thought I would get some Icon ones, nope not made, I guess I'll be shopping some NOS.

 

[four.cycle]

You might want to check out the Lobtex knock-off that O'Reilly's is selling for $15 bucks

 

[Pinne]

I've bought a few of these from Japanese brands and have been happy with the quality.

Also have a handful of them that have just appeared over time from Channellock, Milwaukee, Mac, etc. If I am very honest, I don't find any of them to be so good that I'd spend much time seeking them out or spending more on them. People seem to like the Snap On ones but I can't justify them for myself.

 

[liliysdad]

There are millions of Crescent, Diamond, and Proto adjustable wrenches in pawn shops and at estate and garage sale for next to nothing. Why on earth would you buy a new one, let alone an import?

 

[sparky 1971]

NOS USA made Crescents

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www.harryepstein.com

 

[Rinspeed]

Most newer Crescent wrenches are way on the junkie side. The older Proto black finish industrial wrenches were nice and snug. I have fond memories of driving by the Crescent tool plant and hearing those 600 ton presses punching out tools. There were 700 employees before they moved operations to NC.

 

[bigfunwmu]

The Tekton adjustables are pretty nice. There is no large size from them though.

 

[Steve_P]

There are millions of Crescent, Diamond, and Proto adjustable wrenches in pawn shops and at estate and garage sale for next to nothing. Why on earth would you buy a new one, let alone an import?

Totally true, but where I live, I'm not going to 50 yard sales to hope to find a USA made adjustable wrench when I can buy a new Irega made wrench online with a few clicks; which is more precisely machined than any of the US or Japanese made ones that I have.

 

[lardy1]

The current Channellock adjustables are pretty nice. I'm not sure what sizes they offer though.

 

[KnurledNut]

If they released an ICON comfort grip flank drive plus copy, I'd likely buy it. A 9" would be great. And around $40.

 

[liliysdad]

Totally true, but where I live, I'm not going to 50 yard sales to hope to find a USA made adjustable wrench when I can buy a new Irega made wrench online with a few clicks; which is more precisely machined than any of the US or Japanese made ones that I have.

I have never once thought “Man, I need another adjustable wrench.” I probably have 30 in various sizes between my box and the bags and boxes in vehicles.

I just have them. I pick good ones up when i run across a good deal.

I go to a LOT of garage and estate sales, and I would be willing to bet a substantial sum that the sales that don’t have a US made adjustable wrench for $1-$5 are outnumbered by the ones that do 5 to 1. Pawn shops are the much the same. I’ll usually work a deal and have them throw in a Crescent or Diamond adjustable or a Ridgid Pipe wrench when I buy something substantial.

 

[Jeeper99]

I just ordered a wide mouth 8" Bacho for $30, we'll see how close it is to the wide mouth 8" snappy I usually carry. For a while I believe the bahco and snappy were the same wrench and possibly the OEM for snappy.

 

[four.cycle]

There are millions of Crescent, Diamond, and Proto adjustable wrenches in pawn shops and at estate and garage sale for next to nothing. Why on earth would you buy a new one, let alone an import?

errrr....
because the Spaniards and the Japanese make better adjustable wrenches, maybe?

 

[neophyte]

errrr....
because the Spaniards and the Japanese make better adjustable wrenches, maybe?

It depends on which Spaniards.
All the Irega wrenches I’ve seen have been nicely machined.
The adjustable wrenches made in Spain by Snap-On’s subsidiary (and sold under the Bahco, and other brands, including Snap-On), sometimes had machining issues.

 

[boom10ful]

If they released an ICON comfort grip flank drive plus copy, I'd likely buy it. A 9" would be great. And around $40.

I've got a set of the flank drive snap on ones and they're extremely well made and nice. Not really worth the high price tag but I use them enough that I got tired of my old ones slipping and getting my knuckles

 

[dnschmidt]

With the ICON Pliers Wrench who needs an adjustable?

 

[four.cycle]

It depends on which Spaniards.

To be clear: I was referring to Irega there.
Adjustable wrenches is all they do. Nothing else.
And they've been doing it since 1945.
I think it's fair to say they've probably figured it out by now.

 

[four.cycle]

And now after thinking about it... I think I'm going to buy one of those little "Titan" models - that jaw opening is enough to deal with the usual plumbing issues I have to deal with - fixing sinks and toilets at the studio.
Can't possibly be any worse than the POS "Crestoloy" I bought a couple years ago. Finally sold it to some fool on ebay.
(Don, you still stuck with yours? I doubled my money on mine.)

 

[Shoreline_]

They haven't finished copying SO yet.

 

[four.cycle]

ordered the Titan. need to fix both toilets and one sink at the studio this week. will report later. bk

@Shoreline - maybe they've realized that the market is literally glutted with adjustable wrenches and opted not to jump into it on the "ICON" line and put their adjustable eggs in the Doyle and Pittsburgh baskets.

 

[Callelle]

With the ICON Pliers Wrench who needs an adjustable?

People like me that think the pliers wrench is more annoying and finicky than a normal adjustable.

 

[willf650]

People like me that think the pliers wrench is more annoying and finicky than a normal adjustable.

Youre not alone in that opinion

 

[KnurledNut]

With the ICON Pliers Wrench who needs an adjustable?

I keep both in my work arsenal and often use them together.
More often than not, when I need an adjustable wrench, I need two. I'll use the adjustable wrench to hold the static side of a connection and the pliers wrench to tighten the dynamic. In this application, I find the adjustable more user friendly since it holds its position and doesn't have to be squeezed and the ability to ratchet the pliers wrench saves time running fasteners down and tightening.
This also gives me two different head angle choices. When I am working on stuff sometimes one or the other won't quite fit.
Also need to be careful with the pliers wrench. I have squeezed soft fittings out of round and they leaked. I've gone back to using an adjustable when that's a concern since it just grabs the corners and doesn't compress.

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

The Tekton stubbies are cool because they have a square drive on the end to put a ratchet or breaker bar. Otherwise, the good Ol' Proto Click-Stop are my go-to adjustables. I only use them on metric fasteners though; they don't seem to fit SAE quite as well........