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Pipe wrenches, Stilson V the other kind

rust in the eye

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Since I don't know a name for the NOT Stilson style I'm calling them the other kind, feel free to enlighten me the proper name for them..

I find myself with both styles now but without any projects in the immediate future to compare them.
What do those of you swinging these on a daily basis prefer and why?
Thanks
 

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neophyte

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The fairly modern type of pipe wrench made by Ridgid and a number of other manufacturers nowadays should probably just be called the “Ridgid Type”, although “Thewes Type” would probably also be appropriate since W.O. Thewes has his name on the Patents.



I suspect a bench of the parts for the Thewes type Pipe Wrench were just taken from the then standard but out of patent Stillson/Walworth wrench design, which had been the previous “standard” as as far pipe wrenches went, with Thewes modifying the Stillson design to make the design potentially stronger and maybe cheaper to manufacture.
The Thewes style wrench basically became enough of a standard that Walworth started manufacturing a similar wrench that “looked the same” but which varied enough in internals, that there were different patents, and the Patents didn’t seem to conflict.
The Ridgid/Thewes wrench basically became the new standard, enough that many major manufacturers of plumbing tools now make pipe wrenches with parts that are basically interchangeable with the Ridgid wrenches.
Stillson wrenches, or wrenches based on the Stillson design are still made and available from some of the companies making the Thewes design wrenches, so the style never completely dropped from favor, and one or more Japanese tool makers use a modified Stillson design for specialty wrenches.
 
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ecotec

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Day in/day out… the best are matching pairs of the same size aluminum pipe wrenches. I have Rigid, but I prefer Reed.

If a whole crew is running pipe… it is almost a race to get to the aluminum ones, before all that are left are the cast iron ones.

You need pairs. One to hold the static one, and one to turn the pipe and coupling that you are adding.

14” and 24” are the most standard sizes.
 
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dscheidt

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Anyone care to discuss the difference, which they prefer and why?
Ive never seen a plumber or pipe fitter use anything but the Thewes/ridgid style wrench. Almost always an aluminum one the last decade or so, at least in the sizes they commonly use.

The plumber the city sent to install our water meter asked if I had a pipe wrench (to save a trip to his van, not because he didn’t have another). I asked what size he wanted, he said “big”, so I brought out the 48” aluminum (and a 24” cast iron, because I figured that was what he really wanted). He laughed and used the 24”, and then told me he’d worked on an oil drilling crew, but quit when the company banned aluminum pipe wrenches. Someone had gotten hurt when they used a crane on a 60” wrench and it broke.
 

redwrench60

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I use the
To reiterate… spend the extra money on the aluminum ones. You will thank me later.
I will thank you now…..and later. 😀 Swinging around cast iron pipe wrenches on ladders at arms length and overhead is miserable.

I’m pretty much all aluminum Ridgid now except for a 36” iron I keep just for cheater piping. My most used ones are 18’s and 24’s followed by 36’s and a 48”er when it gets real serious
 
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