not trying to hi-jack what what about the pipe wrenches with a different angle head? much use for those? or is a home owner just as well off with a straight one?
End pipe wrenches (head offset about 45 degrees) are for situations where you have parallel pipe runs, or when pipes are mounted almost flush to a flat surface. If you think of a regular pipe wrench with a pipe mounted flush to a wall, the handle would hit the wall the second the pipe wrench teeth began to grab the pipe or even possibly before. You wouldn't be able to do anything. With an end pipe wrench you would still be able to make about 20-45 degrees worth of turn on the pipe before the handle hits the wall depending on how open the jaws are. For situations of parallel pipe runs on a wall, if you have enough space between the pipes you can grab the pipe and get a little bit of turn out of it with an end pipe wrench (but it would most likely be slow going) whereas a regular pipe wrench could not even grab the pipe at all.
The 90 degree pipe wrenches (offset pipe wrenches) are less common than the regular and end, but they work well in the same situations where the end pipe wrench is advantageous. If the offset pipe wrench is almost opened all the way they can get more turn (vs an end pipe wrench) before hitting anything, but if the jaws are almost closed you will not be able to get much done, because the tip of the threaded part of the jaw will be sticking out quite a ways and hitting almost everything. End pipe wrenches do not have the jaw thread clearance problem as much (because the jaw being at an angle means it gets in the way a little less), so they are a nice happy medium.
If you are using a pipe wrench to grab onto a hex fitting, an end or offset pipe wrench gives you alternate choices for placing the handle out of the way of obstructions while still grabbing the flats of the hex.
I think end pipe wrenches are useful enough to have eventually (if you use pipe wrenches much) but they are also much harder to find used and at a good price. You can do 95% of what you need a pipe wrench for with regular ones, as long as you plan ahead a little bit for the wrench's limitations while working. For any and all homeowner type tasks, I have two of each size regular Ridgid pipe wrenches in 10", 12", 14", and 18". In end style, I only have one 10", and one 14". I do not have any 90 degree pipe wrenches (offset) and have never felt the need for them. I have also never felt the need for end pipe wrenches other than the 2 I already have.
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