Watch Wrenches

[Lewill2]

I had to work on my watch today so I got the appropriate wrenches out to do the work.

Pictured are my 39", 37" & 31" Coes Key Wrenches, a 36" OTC, Owatonna Tool Co adjustable and just in case it might explode I got the 18" Ampco out too.


The 31" Coes had a rough life by the way the top jaw is sprung. One to many times with a pipe handle extension. 

[jimwrench]

 Nice watch repair tool kit. I particularly admire the Owatonna and ampco wrenchs.

[Plyerman]

Makes you wonder what they were wrenching on, when they had to put an extension on a 31" Coes. Something mighty big apparently, and mighty tight.

[Chillylulu]

About half the time I used a 36"  wrench it was with a cheater.

When you have to go big, it gets rough real quick.

Chilly

[Bill Houghton]

About half the time I used a 36"  wrench it was with a cheater.

When you have to go big, it gets rough real quick.

Chilly

During my brief career as an overhead door installer, we did a commercial job on a lumber warehouse at the same time as the sprinkler fitters were installing the pipe with six foot iron pipe wrenches - they'd set up one wrench to lock more or less automatically on the pipe, then one guy would stand on the pipe and wrench to hold it in place, while the other lined up the fitting and used the other six foot pipe wrench to install it.  Every half hour or so, they'd switch places, so the guy doing the standing-on-the-pipe task wouldn't get too tired.  Ridgid doesn't currently even list a six foot wrench, but the five-footer weighs 51 pounds, 15 pounds more than the four-footer - so a six-footer would probably be 65-70 pounds.  No cheaters on those wrenches...

[Lewill2]

Never weighed these but if my memory is correct the 6 foot Coes Key weighs around 165#. Just a little more than I would want to work with.

[international3414]

i cant use a wrench that weights more than me 

[kwoswalt99]

Ridgid doesn't currently even list a six foot wrench, but the five-footer weighs 51 pounds, 15 pounds more than the four-footer - so a six-footer would probably be 65-70 pounds.  No cheaters on those wrenches...

I've seen wrenches that big bent before, so it happens.

[turnnut]

  I remember working on a pipe going by the steel roof trusses that would not budge,  we hooked a come-a-long to the trusses,
  and it bent the pipe wrench, but we got it loose.

  the foreman asked us how we bent the wrench, he knew that we had a long pipe/cheater on it.

   we told him, " what do you expect with two of us on the wrench, nope, never told him about the come-a-long.   

[Chillylulu]

We put cheaters on most any large wrench, including 5' wrenches.

My preferred cheater is a sledge hammer - break the cast iron threaded fitting and replace it with grooved fittings.

Usually at 48" - 60" we went to chain wrenches or a compound wrench. They were still often used with a piece of 2" pipe on the handle. Just run back and forth on the ground to make up the pipe.

Compound wrenches really magnify the torque. Pics below.

I carried up to 36" on a standard truck.  All are aluminum, except the one used on the machine to make on fittings.

Chilly

[Plyerman]

Hmmph. I've never used one of those compound wrenches before.  (Truth be told, I didn't realize there was such a thing)

[Lewill2]

I've seen the used compound style for sale before missing the chain clamp/jaw assembly and could never figure out how they worked. Your pictures make it clear now.

[Chillylulu]

They are slow to set up compared to using two wrenches in a normal way. But in certain situations....

We sometimes install high pressure threaded  fittings on certain gas extinguishing systems. 3000 psi rated steel fittings uo to 6" pipe.

And we often use seamless pipe in these applications. A commib misconception is that seamless pipe isn't welded. It is welded together, steel cannot be extruded like that. But it is formed and welded undersized.  An additional process includes ramming a die down the pipe, finalizing the size and knocking down the seam.

Chilly