A "New" wrench?

[Uncle Al]

When I saw this picture, I HAD to share it



Let's quit monkey-ing around use the proper version

Uncle Al

[r.m.anderson]

Ah the universal multi-adjustable expandable Mexican speed wrench now available in knuckle busting metric and standard !

Otherwise known as the ole English adjustable spanner !

So what happened one of our space age astronuts*(intentional misspelling) lose one of our top secret tools in space and it fell to earth landing in
Uncle Al's back yard !

[Gregg1100]

Horrible things. Always safer to hands to use the correct size spanner, preferably a ring spanner. I served an apprenticeship in automobile engineering and have never had one of those heinous things in my toolbox

[Kirbstone]

The ultimate 'pushmepullyou' of the hand tool genre. I remember lunar astronauts applying 'impact technology' to the lunar lander base when a door jammed. They wouldn't have used one of those, just a hammer instead!

Tom

[partlyscot]

As someone who grew up with the "tool kits" provided with 1970s Japanese motorcycles, I will say that it is better than the pot metal "adjustable set spanners" that came in such kits. I remember that I would often replace the stupid philips case screws with allen bolts, (you may know them as socket screws) but I don't remember ever replacing the spanners, (wrenches) or screwdrivers, how strange. I guess I must have been just like teenagers today, and not thinking things through too much.

[Gregg1100]

Yeah--socket screws. With the old Jap bikes and their crosshead screws, it would have to be an impact tool which would be the only way to shift them. Converted many a bike to socket heads. My EN 500 and GPz 500 Kawas have got hexagonal headed screws, so saved the expense of a kit or two

[dillon]

Where can I get one, Al?

LOL...

[r.m.anderson]

Probably Rears & Soebucks - never did fancy K-Mart having Craftsman Tools.
Something odd here just like that Crescent wrench.

Well it won't be long for K-Mart and Sears to be history like the passing of Monkey Wards (Montgomery Wards).
These were the nations hardware stores in the past and if they did not stock it or have it you didn't need it !
Sad for the employees of these once proud stores to be put out of work because of cheaply made Chinese stuff
and then so much for the lifetime warranty of Craftsman tools.

[moonshadow]

These were the nations hardware stores in the past and if they did not stock it or have it you didn't need it !

Little towns around here are still peppered with real hardware stores, the type that sell nails from a bin and has those old wide plank creaky wood floors. In fact, I think there's one in Floyd VA that still heats on a wood burning stove.

We're loosing something special with the boxification of retail. Don't get me wrong, I like the convenience of late night retail choices, and.... well, really that's about the only thing nice about the box stores. Everything else sucks.

Just the other day I stopped at a Tractor supply to see about purchasing a bale of straw. The girl working pointed to some packs of cedar chips on the shelf, never said a word and walked towards the register. I kid you not. Not only does her customer service suck, but she didn't know what a straw bale was and she works in a store dealing in farm supplies....

[crfriend]

Little towns around here are still peppered with real hardware stores, the type that sell nails from a bin and has those old wide plank creaky wood floors. In fact, I think there's one in Floyd VA that still heats on a wood burning stove.

Nice!

The city to my west still has an old-school hardware store near said city's northernmost tip -- and when I can't find something I need to complete a project I will almost invariably end up there. Sadly, the original owner passed away a number of years ago but his apprentice not only kept the business running he retained the character. A standing joke between my ex and I was that whenever either of us returned home with the tell-tale small brown paper bag (inevitably filled with an odd selection of nuts, bolts, washers, &c.) a comment would get made of "He (or she) went to Jerry's!" which is a riff on a motto used by a large jewellery chain in these parts (Jared's). Happier days.

I completely concur that "boxification" (great term, there) comes at a very high social cost, but the problem is that unless the little guy can develop a loyal following and meet needs folks will go to the Big Box store to scratch their itch. I go to the little guys every time I need something unless it's a commodity item.

Just the other day I stopped at a Tractor supply to see about purchasing a bale of straw. The girl working pointed to some packs of cedar chips on the shelf, never said a word and walked towards the register.

Had that happened to me I would have simply walked for the door and gone someplace else. That is absolutely unacceptable behaviour for staff, ignorance of product notwithstanding.

You live in the back-woods of Appalachia. There has got to be an old-school "feed and grain" type store close by.

I work in computers. Why do I know the difference between wood-chips and straw? (Or need to.)

[dillon]

We still have a few country hardware stores around, and I much prefer them to Lowes and Home Depot. You may pay twice as much for a nut or bolt dut will spend only a fourth the time searching for it and checking out. For smaller purchases, like screws, ammo, spray paint, etc, it's worth paying for the convenience. Tractor Supply may as well be Lowes...a chain selling Chinese stuff, and rarely adaptable to your real needs.

[beachlion]

I remember those little hardware stores from the Netherlands in the 50s. A lot of their stuff went by inch-sizes because of the surplus the Americans and British brought to our shores. Nails and screws went by weight, rope by length (in centimeters) and it was packed in a torn off sheet of brown paper. It was amazing how many different items they could store in such a small space. And they could give you real advice. I'm glad I have most of their experience now otherwise I would have been at a loss at the current hardware chains.

[Pdxfashionpioneer]

As a former small business counselor let me remind all of you that niche marketing is the only viable strategy for a small business. Good luck finding a viable in the wake of a big box hitting town.

That said, Uncle Al, I have to hand this one to you, every time I see or even think of that wrench I crack up laughing!

[crfriend]

[... E]very time I see or even think of that wrench I crack up laughing!

That was a great excursion into recursion, wasn't it.

Give me a good set of box-spanners any day. Save where only a deep-socket will do, or something that requires three degrees of freedom to remove a key bolt...

Once an engineer designs something that gets put into production he should be relegated into maintenance of the thing for the next five years. That'd cut down on the shenanigans a bit I suspect. And that's not just in the mechanical world, either. I've dealt with computers I've had to fix that have had me scratching my head and wondering, "What was that idiot thinking?" (assuming that thinking was actually happening at design time)

[moonshadow]

Had that happened to me I would have simply walked for the door and gone someplace else. That is absolutely unacceptable behaviour for staff, ignorance of product notwithstanding.

That's pretty much what I did, however, not having the straw anyway, they left me little choice.

You live in the back-woods of Appalachia. There has got to be an old-school "feed and grain" type store close by.

Per Google, there's a Southern States somewhere in Marion. I'll see about finding it this week. I'm trying to get some little cat houses together before it turns really cold. We seemed to have drawn a fair number of stray cats at this new place and I feel for them huddled up by the front door on cold nights. I think one of them might have been abandoned by a former tenant because he comes in like he owns the place and is very tame. We must shoo him out though when he comes in as the lease limits us to one house cat. Luna has seniority. (even if she is mean as a snake)