6-inch Western Auto Monkey Wrench

[Wrenchmensch]

This 6-inch Western Auto Monkey looks like the Bonney and Crescent 6-inchers in my collection (and previously shown on this site), but it is a far distance from those wrenches in finish quality. For example, the jaw does not pivot on its pin despite the leaf-spring assist, and the cadmium finish has largely worn off.  I bought the wrench today because I have never seen a Western Auto monkey wrench.  Are they common anyplace else?

[HeelSpur]

I have a 10 incher, only one I have found.

[Papaw]

I have never seen a Western Auto pipe wrench. Is it just frozen? If it has the spring it should pivot.

[rusty]

Interesting. 90% certain it is J.P.Danielson contract production....

[Wrenchmensch]

I freed the lower jaw overnight, and there is now very limited movement in it - a few thousandths.  "Why", I asked myself.

I found the answer when I compared the cheaply made Western Auto wrench with the Bonney wrench.  The answer lies in the compromises made in designing thr Western Auto wrench to keep costs down.  The Western Auto wrench makers may not have fully incorporated tool steel strengths in designing their wrenches,or they may have used inferior grade "tool steel", and had to compensate for that. Whatever the reason, the Western Auto wrench has a wider handle and a  thicker upper jaw than do the comparable Bonney and Crescent wrenches.  The wider handle in the Western Auto wrench limits the wrenches jaw arc.

You get what you pay for.  Wider handles in the Western Auto wrench limited the arc of the spring-loaded jaw to near zero. But it must have been good enough for the Western Auto customer at the time. If the customer knew Bonney and Crescent small monkey wrenches of the 1920s and 1930s, he might have recognized the differences in finish between those wrenches and the Western Auto wrench.  More likely, a Western Auto wrench customer probably did not recognize any difference in performance quality between the two classes of wrenches.  Buying a 6-inch monkey wrench at Western Auto, however, must generally have been an expedient, one conditioned as much by circumstance as by cost.

[lauver]

Wrenchmensch,

I have a Western Auto 6" pipe wrench that has a nice fit & finish.  It's bare steel and the handle is/was painted red.  The business end is machined nicely.

It works nicely on small diameter pipe and tubing.  On the other hand, 6" pipe wrenches have always struck me as an oddity or oxymoron.

I have no idea who or when it was made, but it struck me as 1930's-1940's, maybe early 1950's.  For what it's worth, the Western Auto pipe wrench closely resembles a Fleet pipe wrench I have.

[Chillylulu]

It works nicely on small diameter pipe and tubing.  On the other hand, 6" pipe wrenches have always struck me as an oddity or oxymoron.

Lauver,

We were issued 10" for ourselves and every jobsite had a steel 14" and aluminum 18" and 24" pipe wrenches.

Our smallest pipe to sprinkler heads is 1".  The 8", 6", & 4" are handy for smaller pipe.  We use a lot of 3/4" and 1/2" nipples and some pipe on special valve trim. There can be 70 or 80 nipples on one valve.  It can get tight. A smaller pioe wrench gets you in there. Either that or you have to use your 10" which is a little oversized. Honestly, 8" is close to 10" and 4" is too small. So 6" is great. Either that or channelock 420's. They get in the way as much as a 10" Rigid.

What I never have had a use for is 12", in addition to 4".  I have only used 14" steel on a threader for making on fittings. But usually we stick the handle end in anything that has an outlet at 90º to the pipe.

Chilly

[mikeswrenches]

Chilly,

Our smallest pipe to sprinkler heads is 1".  The 8", 6", & 4" are handy for smaller pipe.  We use a lot of 3/4" and 1/2" nipples and some pipe on special.

Who made your 4" pipe wrench?  The only one I have ever seen was a 6 incher that had been cut down to a 4" size.  I have heard they were made, but have never seen one, or talked to anyone that had.

Mike