Show your adjustable wrenches!

[jfleisher]

I just have the one...

 

[RAS61]

I just have the one...

Very Cool, never saw one of these before!

 

[rockinacummins]

Very Cool, never saw one of these before!

I’ve been looking for a few years... never seen one in the wild. There are quite a few pictures of them here though!

 

[Outlawmws]

I have two of the 8X10's; Not plated though. I had to cannibalize another regular wrench to fix one of them...

 

[four.cycle]

^ there's plenty of those double-end units on Ebay! get out your wallet! sellers think they're made out of platinum!

 

[davethorik]

^ there's plenty of those double-end units on Ebay! get out your wallet! sellers think they're made out of platinum!

Not just on ebay. I've seen a fair number for sale at fleas and swap meets, never south of $100.

 

[h~moto]

B&O wrench from back when we weren't a throwaway society.

 

[h~moto]

A Utica Select-O-Lock wrench.

 

[RagTopTA]

Heres three Adjustables I bought a while back at the flea market for $5. The 14" and the 12" both had lead holding the thumb wheel in a certain place where they would stay put for a certain task. I worked these things over for a month till I finally got them moving and freed up! Kroil and Rust penetrant every day soaking them.

 

[h~moto]

German adjustable wrench

 

[RagTopTA]

German adjustable wrench

that thing is really cool!

 

[Outlawmws]

That German wrench is awesome!

 

[four.cycle]

^ the "better mousetrap".

are those leaves each one millimeter thick? or 1/6" ??

 

[Outlawmws]

I'd bet metric

 

[four.cycle]

I'm going to drop this here because it sure as hell ain't no "hot deal" - don't know if anybody's going to be interested or not:

12 each knurled thumbwheels for adjustable wrenches
used
$39.99 + $7.15 expedited shipping OBO "buy now"
https://www.ebay.com/itm/12-ADJUSTABLE-WRENCH-REPLACEMENT-KNURLES-IN-VARIOUS-SIZES/362215630404

 

[gbh]

Here’s my TDP 200mm adjustable. It has the smoothest action I’ve even found in an adjustable wrench.
It has a two piece thumb wheel, I’ve no idea why or if that’s the reason the action is so precise.

 

[h~moto]

are those leaves each one millimeter thick? or 1/6" ??

They appear to be 1/32"

 

[davethorik]

Here’s my TDP 200mm adjustable. It has the smoothest action I’ve even found in an adjustable wrench.
It has a two piece thumb wheel, I’ve no idea why or if that’s the reason the action is so precise.

That is an interesting looking wrench. What is the COO?
Maybe the 2 piece thumb wheel has a self locking mechanism to hold position?

 

[gbh]

That is an interesting looking wrench. What is the COO?
Maybe the 2 piece thumb wheel has a self locking mechanism to hold position?

TOP is a Japanese company but I think the Exactwrench HT-200B might be made in Taiwan, not sure.

 

[Catfishdan]

I did a little reorganizing so I could get all my small Adjustables into one drawer.

 

[tanukiboy]

Just a heads up in case you're interested.

We've been talking a little about the "TOP Hyper Monkey Zero" adjustable wrenches over in the "Tools of Japan" thread. They use a spring-loaded split worm that pretty much eliminates play or drift. It's the same worm design as in the TOP wrench that gbh posted about earlier in this thread.

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A member who goes by the moniker outdated has also posted a video review that you might want to look at. (I hope it's okay to post a link here without asking his permission.)

 

[superautobacs]

I also have a Proto "Clik-stop" that's not pictured.

Everything here is made in Japan. TOP, Sanki, Lobster, Aigo

The Sanki is a 15* angle head

The slim-jawed TOP has a worldwide patent for their wormgear mechanism.

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ccassan/35241085405/in/photolist-VuE8br-VG8LUB-VG8LUM-VG8LZB-VG8LXx-VG8LSn-VrwQL5/" title="TOP, AIGO, Sanki, Lobster"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4261/35241085405_6cc09092d7_b.jpg" width="1024" height="746" alt="TOP, AIGO, Sanki, Lobster"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[jalind]

The first set are the garage workbench "crescent style":

• Top one is a 24" behemoth. Its jaw opens to 2-1/2 inches. Hangs from a huge hook on the back side of the wire shelf above the workbench. Got it for a one-off special project dealing with removing some very large nuts and it turned out we didn't need it (worked around removing the nuts). Weighs 7.5 pounds. Dropping it on your foot is highly discouraged.
• The next two below it are 12" mining wrenches. One of them is a Canadian Rastall without the hammer head (aka thumb detector and locator). The other, with the hammer head, is made by Mine Tools, a small company in Arizona. It's a good wrench but the Rastall are better with a tighter tolerance rack and worm gear.
• The last one is a 10" S-K. Excellent forging and tight tolerance rack and worm gear. The I-beam handle is well designed with thick flange and extremely strong.

The second set are the monkey and Stillson wrenches from the garage work bench. From left to right:

• Diamond Calk 12" monkey wrench, probably from the 1950's or 1960's. Unlike the Ford or "truck" monkey wrenches, this one has a hammer head and wider jaws. Excellent for lower torque larger fasteners.
• Vintage WWI era 12" Pexto monkey wrench with metal handle. The great majority have wood handles. With one inch wide jaws and a hammer head, it's the wrench straight out of your grandparents' Clue game. Very massive, it is, indeed, a lethal weapon.
• A couple of 14" Stillson. Nothing that special about them beyond being exceptionally rigid and strong. They'll destroy a fastener or a faceted pipe union in a fraction of a second. I've had to deal with iron water pipe in the past and have had these for at least three decades.
• Finally, a smaller 8" Stillson made by Rigid. This one is generally the go-to for the iron pipe I deal with now. The only iron pipe I've got in the house is the gas line. Out in the garage I've got pipe clamps and this one is mostly used for getting the pipe off the clamp end if I need to remove it.

The next ones reside in the laundry room. Don't use bleach and the door remains open to the rest of the house; humidity isn't an issue. The tools there don't rust or corrode. The 8" S-K on the left is in a small portable tool box along with some other basic tools. I can grab it for elsewhere in the house supplemented by something from the laundry room tool pegboard if needed. From top to bottom:

• 12" Rastall mining wrench. This one has the built-in thumb detector and locator. Any fastener that doesn't yield to this one can be beaten into submission.
• 6" S-K; sometimes you don't need, or want, a larger wrench, especially in a tight space.
• 10" no-name from Japan. Excellent forging, quite strong and has surprisingly tight rack and worm gearing. It was my father's and is probably pushing 40 years old. Finish has flaked off a corner of the jaw. Started to rust in my father's garage as he kept pool chemicals stored there. Cleaned up substantially from when I inherited it coated with a layer of rust on the inset panel of the handle. An example of the good tools that eventually started coming out of Japan.
• A pair of Ford or "truck" style no-name monkey wrenches that were my father's. Top one is 10" and the bottom one 9". When he got them I've no clue and they may very well be from his father. He had them as far back as I can remember. Excellent for dealing with faceted pipe fittings on drains under the sinks. One of them shows signs of having been hammered on the handle, and the back of the moving jaw used as a hammer.

Last, but not least, the wrenches that reside in two other portable tool boxes:

• The 8" Craftsman is in the car toolbox I keep in the trunk. It's a Western Forge from the mid-1990's, quite well made and strong for its size. Also has tight tolerance rack and worm gear with not much rattle.
• Yet another 8" S-K is kept in the tool box in my study.
• The tools in the study tool box are for electrical and electronics work. Hence, the 4" S-K. As with the 6" in the laundry room, sometimes you need the small wrench to get into a small space with smaller, low torque fasteners. It's used primarily to old one end of a through fastener while the other end is tightened with a ratchet.

Started collecting them up for the portrait sittings and had more adjustables around the house than I had imagined. They're not the primary go-to wrenches but the "crescent style" in particular can be invaluable as a second open end wrench when the size you need is already in use on the other end of the fastener.

John

 

[plumber84]

Some more of mine

 

[plumber84]

Plus this one

 

[glenmore]

An unnecessarily complex adjustable wrench.

 

[plumber84]

An unnecessarily complex adjustable wrench.

Had the 8" and 10" crescent version of those wrenches and they were the worst wrenches I've ever owned! One of them locked onto a fitting I had to cut of and throw away and the other seized up so bad I used it as a makeshift hammer when I didn't have one to hand

 

[davethorik]

Updated family portrait, L to R:
1st column:
- Plomb Plombaloy 8"
- Master Mechanic 8"
- Diamond Calk & Horseshoe Diamalloy 8"
- Canton Malleable Iron Co. 8"
- P.S.&W. Co. Cleveland, O. monkey 7"
2nd:
- Wright 12"
- Cornwell 12"
- Challenger 12" NOS
- Ampco 12" AlBr non-spark
- Diamond Tool & Horseshoe auto 11" NOS
- Whitman & Barnes monkey 10"
- Utica 10"
- no-name 10" (Spain)
- Pexto monkey 10"
- Williams Superjustable 10"
- Craftsman Vanadium 10"
3rd:
-Diamond Tool & Horseshoe Diamalloy 24"
- Proto Clik-Stop 20"
- Crescent Jamestown 18"
- JP Danielson Bet'r Grip 16"
- Pexto monkey 15"
- Crescent Jamestown 15"
4th:
- Wright 6"
- S-K Tools 6"
- Proto Los Angeles 6"
- Jonnesway 6" (Taiwan)
- Crescent Crestoloy 6"
- Snap-on/Blue-Point 4"
- Snap-on/Blue-Point 4"
- JP Danielson Bet'r Grip 4"
- Proto Clik-Stop 4"
- Napa 4"

 

[Thru-hika]

Here is some of my 4” adjustables.

 

[48548]

Some of my last ones...

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[DadsTools]

Yeah, I went there. I was just in the mood.

 

[davethorik]

Yeah, I went there. I was just in the mood.

Copper plated Bet'r Grip! Very cool!

 

[DadsTools]

Copper plated Bet'r Grip! Very cool!

Thanks. Provenance from elderly seller was that this had been used on a ship during WWII. It's a 'safety' wrench, which means it was plated with beryllium copper only to resist sparking, a less expensive alternative to spark 'proof' solid beryllium. Date code of 1944 tends to confirm WWII provenance, as well as other members' knowledge about similar wrenches on ships. It's not a catalogued item, so it must have been a custom contract ordered for the Navy. It's apparently quite uncommon.

 

[davethorik]

Thanks. Provenance from elderly seller was that this had been used on a ship during WWII. It's a 'safety' wrench, which means it was plated with beryllium copper only to resist sparking, a less expensive alternative to spark 'proof' solid beryllium. Date code of 1944 tends to confirm WWII provenance, as well as other members' knowledge about similar wrenches on ships. It's not a catalogued item, so it must have been a custom contract ordered for the Navy. It's apparently quite uncommon.

That's probably one of the coolest back stories I've ever heard for an adjustable! I hope after it went home with him, no one made sparks anywhere they shouldn't have with the (guessing) steel replacement! A cursed adjustable wrench would be no good!! Lol

Edit: makes me wonder when the bronze and becu versions came into vogue? I have an Ampco 12" and no idea on age, not a lot out there on non-spark tools in general.

 

[DadsTools]

That's probably one of the coolest back stories I've ever heard for an adjustable! I hope after it went home with him, no one made sparks anywhere they shouldn't have with the (guessing) steel replacement! A cursed adjustable wrench would be no good!! Lol

Edit: makes me wonder when the bronze and becu versions came into vogue? I have an Ampco 12" and no idea on age, not a lot out there on non-spark tools in general.

IIRC, Ampco still makes them, but they are solid alloy, not just plated.

There is a early brand of sockets (1920s?) that were copper plated, but just as a finish.

The earliest account for wrenches like this one is from a Plomb 1939 catalog a GJ member found.

 

[Nineeightyone]

Just a heads up in case you're interested.

We've been talking a little about the "TOP Hyper Monkey Zero" adjustable wrenches over in the "Tools of Japan" thread. They use a spring-loaded split worm that pretty much eliminates play or drift. It's the same worm design as in the TOP wrench that gbh posted about earlier in this thread.

View media item 80234
View media item 80235
A member who goes by the moniker outdated has also posted a video review that you might want to look at. (I hope it's okay to post a link here without asking his permission.)

These look fantastic, but what's the cheapest way to get one? I'm looking at the 32 or 38mm, only seeing them on Ebay though. The $50 pricetag is a little hard for me to swallow as a hobbyist, are they available anywhere cheaper?

 

[tanukiboy]

These look fantastic, but what's the cheapest way to get one? I'm looking at the 32 or 38mm, only seeing them on Ebay though. The $50 pricetag is a little hard for me to swallow as a hobbyist, are they available anywhere cheaper?

You can order the 32 mm direct from Amazon Japan for about $35, which includes Amazon Global Priority Shipping (3-6 days) to the US. (BTW, you can switch Amazon Japan's site from Japanese to English to make it easier to read.)

Another option is Rakuten, which is a huge Japanese shopping site. They also accept international orders and can display pages in (admittedly, rather poorly translated) English.

PS. You might also want to post over in the "Tools of Japan" thread and ask some of the members who live in the US where they order their Japanese tools from.

 

[48548]

Franks tools as well....

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[48548]

I bought this from amazon, thinking of sending it back, i thought from the pic it was a side adjustable... should i keep it? 12inch bahco and i paid 35....



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[plumber84]

I bought this from amazon, thinking of sending it back, i thought from the pic it was a side adjustable... should i keep it? 12inch bahco and i paid 35....



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94c is the part number of the one I pictured, it isn't insulated but it is one of the best quality adjustable wrenches I've ever held. It's 12" long and satin chrome plated. Should be available from Snap-on industrial, I got mine from Snap-on industrial UK