Sunday, February 16, 2020

The Good Old Ford Wrench

     Sometimes known as a "monkey wrench," for no discernible reason, the early smooth-jaw adjustable wrench has largely been supplanted by worm-drive Crescent wrenches and copies, but the older type is nevertheless handy.

     A problem is that many of the old ones are worn out and wobbly.  Old, soft steel, heavy use and designs with weak spots contribute to this.

     So imagine my surprise when I encountered videos of a guy rebuilding old tools using such a wrench that looked new.

     It turns out he sells them.  I saved up and got myself one.  Nice wrench!
     (It's laying on a very rough plot outline for The Veteran, a story I keep tinkering with.)

3 comments:

RandyGC said...

Thanks for the education.

I had never heard of the Ford Wrench and had assumed that monkey wrench referred to the adjustable crescent wrench.

Jeff F. said...

What a satisfying video!
No use for yet another wrench, but I find that I want one rather badly...

Jerry said...

Actually it's a fairly accurate reproduction of a Billings & Spencer adjustable wrench from about 1900. The Billings wrench featured markings at 1/32 inch intervals on the shaft. The wrench could also be used as a calipers. In any case, this is going on my wish list.