To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

What is an end wrench

four.cycle

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 19, 2015
Messages
28,869
Location
Tacoma, Washington
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

Hohn

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 25, 2016
Messages
2,642
Location
Diesel Central, Indiana
It’s a useless term, nonsensical in the same way that “ink pen” is when referring to a fountain pen. What do you think is in a pen for writing if not ink?
 

four.cycle

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 19, 2015
Messages
28,869
Location
Tacoma, Washington
Now, if you're speaking of that tinny little piece of garbage that came with your consumer-grade chainsaw:

chainsaw-wrench.jpg
"chainsaw wrench" is probably the correct term, but I've called them all kinds of things.
The ONLY redeeming quality they have is that they are dirt cheap, so you're not out money when you leave it behind on a job site.
 

zendriver

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 10, 2014
Messages
29,890
Location
Indiana
AI sometimes *****.

Wiss manufactured “Special Hardness” snips, up until at least the early 2000s, and started manufacturing the “Special Hardness” snips as far back as at least the 1960s, and Wiss specified the “Special Hardness” snips for titanium, stainless steel, and inconel even back during the 1960s, so a period of 50 years or more.
Wiss no longer seems to manufacture snips designated as “special hardness”, although there seem to be some more recent Wiss snips without the “special hardness” designation that do mention titanium and stainless steel cutting in the specs.
Somehow, Google’s “AI” can’t seem to realize that the Wiss snips existed, thinking the “special hardness” designation only applies to the Midwest version, even though the Wiss did exist, and were available for sale, while Google was indexing the internet.
OK, but I thought we were discussing wrenches.
 

neophyte

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 23, 2012
Messages
9,663
Location
Pennsylvannia
Those don't look like what was initially described as a tube wrench, a socket made from, presumably, thin walled tubing. Those look to be made like regular sockets, forged from a billet.
I suspect most of the forged versions are made similar to sockets, using either a hot or cold forging process.
The forged versions are meant to be a higher quality version of the older “Tube” wrenches, which were made from tube formed at both ends to socket dimensions, with the “Tube wrenches” simply being cheaper, more easily mass produced versions of older “Socket Wrenches” with ends that were forged or broached to size.
I don’t know whether the double ended design with the bar handle that gets stuck thru the hole in the wrench originated with the original forged version, or whether that originated with the tube version.
 
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

Rusted Nut

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 11, 2022
Messages
1,810
Location
PNW
To me, an end wrench is a like a spud wrench without the taper. The wrench part of an end wrench is offset from the axis of the handle.
 

cherrybomb

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 18, 2016
Messages
891
Location
Near Madison Wi.
Growing up, my dad had a set of what we call double box wrenches and a set of double open end wrenches. No combination wrenches at all. That was what he knew and how he used wrenches to fix everything. Having two wrenches, box and open in the same size allowed you to hold the bolt or nut with one and tighten or loosen with the other. This gave more options before everybody had a drawer full of specialty wrenches. The open ends were shorter which allows access in tighter spaces and the box end were longer for leverage and nicely offset for knuckle clearance.

Sometimes I wonder if this approach is superior to just combination wrenches.
My Dad's set was exactly like you described, so growing up helping Dad's that's the terminology we used and learned.Now combos have kind of changed often these terms are used
 

amgent57

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 9, 2024
Messages
108
"flare nut wrench"
I always called them fuel line wrenches, but I see that they're called flare nut wrenches.

Drives me nutz when I see these guys on YouTube using ordinary open end wrenches to loosen old crusty brake and fuel fittings.

Butchers.

Did I mention popular YouTuber SimonFordman still uses only a carpenter hammer on his auto repair videos?
 

SteveCh

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 21, 2012
Messages
1,053
Thanks everyone for the answer to my question re: socket wrench. Interesting stuff.

As to "ink pen," think how many would tell you they have a "hot water heater" in their home.
 

Beerhippie

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 13, 2023
Messages
9,796
Location
Far NE Oregon
"hot water heater"
Drives me nuts. Why heat the hot water?

Almost as bad as all the folks who use "unthaw" to mean "thaw". Wouldn't "to unthaw" be "to freeze"?

But then, corporate ads encourage us to "shop local". Local is an adjective--it modifies a verb. The adverb that should go with "shop"--a verb--is "locally".

It's a hard time to be a grammar pendant pedant.
 
Last edited:
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!
Top Bottom