h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Is this otherwise known as a Stilson ?

Tigger

First, I wish to disavow the title for this entry. It was submitted as an entry on the crescent wrench, and so it remains, despite the mis-titling by the editors. HELLO EDITORS: A crescent wrench and a monkey wrench are not the same thing! In a crescent wrench, the jaw moves perpendicularly to the handle. In a monkey wrench, the jaw moves parallel to the handle. Not the same mechanism at all. If you didn't understand, why the hell didn't you ask?

Now, as to the question at hand: a Stilson wrench is yet a third type of wrench. It is similar to the monkey wrench, in that the jaws open vertically if the tool is held upright. However, on the Stilson wrench, the fixed jaw is the bottom jaw, while the moveable jaw is the top jaw. On a monkey wrench, the fixed jaw is at the top of the tool. A Stilson is designed to have some pivoting in the mechanism so that it will bite down if turned in one direction and release if turned in the other. This makes it handy for grabbing round surfaces, and in fact this tool is known as a "pipe wrench" in the States.

So:
Crescent wrench: jaw moves perpendicular to handle
Monkey wrench: jaw moves parallel to handle, upper jaw fixed
Stilson wrench: jaw moves parallel to handle, lower jaw fixed

I hope this clears up any confusion.

Apologises - Not knowing a cresent wrench by that name, I think (given your clarification), that it maps closely to what I know under the generic title of 'adjustable wrench', which definitely fits the 'rounding' description you gave.

I encountered something called a 'footprint' wrench, a while ago, which seems to have a good mix of characteristics from the list you gave, including the self tightening one.

Tigger

Oh, no need to apologise. I suspect "crescent wrench" may be a stateside-only term. I've heard "adjustable wrench" for the same tool.

One distinction I left out of the previous rant: monkey wrenches and crescent wrenches have smooth surfaces on the jaws, while Stilson (pipe) wrenches have serrations on the jaws.

Footprint wrench is a new one on me. I'll have to go hunt that down. Then there's basin wrench, chain wrench, box-end wrench, offset wrench...I could be writing Guide entries for weeks just from a toolbox.

Then you get into situations where the verbage is VERY specific. Go to the stagecraft shop of any east coast live theatre in the states and every technician will have a C-wrench. It is a Crescent wrench not to exceed 8 inches in length. The bigger ones are actually given names, while the smaller ones are ignored.

Further research seems to indicate that Footprint is a make, rather than a type of wrench, though I've never seen their type being made by anyone else, so maybe they qualify to be called a type as well ?

Tigger

Nothing to do with me, I assure you... I handed it on under the title 'Crescent Wrench', knowing absolutely nothing about tools of any sort, really.

Hopefully someone with the necessary privelidges to change the title'll see your comment fairly soon... if not, I'll get in touch.

Don't worry 'bout it... this sort of thing is bound to happen from time to time, but part of the point of having forums under the articles is that mistakes don't go unnoticed for very long...

26199

Hmmmm. The cresent wrench goes but the name "shifting spanner" here in Australia. of course, in true Australian fashion, it is invariably shortened to the term "shifter". Well, your description of a cresent wrench sounds very much like our Shifter. Oh well...

This gets more bloody confusing by the moment. I found several references online that say

shifting spanner = monkey wrench

several more that say

shifting spanner = adjustable spanner

one that says

shifting spanner = slip wrench

and one which calls the damned thing a "shifting crescent". So tentatively I think it is a crescent wrench, but I'd like to find a picture of the darned thing to be sure.

Thanks for the shifting of the blame, Mr. 26199. You'd think by now the Powers That Be would know that I am subtle & quick to anger and would watch out for this sort of thing...

And a Babylon 5 fan to boot, not to be crossed. Let me say in defense of the lowly cresent that it does have it's place. Have you ever had to find a wrench to fit British Standard Witworth , or worse yet one of those pre-standardization square nuts the blacksmiths used to make ? Now if you really want to make a mess out of a nut , nothing can beat a missapplied Visegrip. As long as you aren't trying to torque something down and it's only a couple of bolts , a cresent will do fine . I always have one in the car emergency kit , and they have been enough to get home a couple of times ( and fixed at least 1/2 dozen roadside breakdowns I've stopped to help ).

Yes, this sounds very familiar. Every handyman berates the shifter as a nut wrecker, and to be scoffed at, but there is one lurking at the bottom of the majority of tool boxes just in case of emergency. Nothing strikes fear into the heart quicker than having to remove the wheel nuts of a truck with a shifter by sticking a 8 foot length of pipe over the end and then putting *all* your weight on it. Ah ... memories ... *sigh*.

I'll give you another way to terrorize a nut: chisel and sledgehammer. I've actually used this technique on VW engine gland nuts. Place large chisel between center of nut and corner, aimed more or less tangentially to the nut, and whack it with the hammer. Loosens nuts like a charm, and you can get three loosenings and three tightenings before you've ruined the thing completely.

Fully agree , been there , done that to that very nut. Just pound till it quits moving and your right on 250 ftlbs.

If you want another tight spot recovery idea. I had some inner CV joint bolts on a Rabbit that had the splins stripped out by some over zealous shop gorilla , and I had to break them loose. Used a Dremmel and a small stone to grind two flat surfaces 11mm apart and used an open end to get things started.

I have several Adjustable spanner/wrenchs, along with too many to count, other spanner, grips, wrenchs etc in my toolkit - I would like to suggest another line of conversation here, namely improvements to existing designs, either how to improve them or improvements necessary.

To start the ball rolling, I would like to see improvement in:

The spanner/wrench tool they sell to work with deeply remote tap seating nuts (the ones under the unit) - it looks like a pair of serrated C shaped jaws (~5cm/2" in size), sprung loaded shut, on a hinged joint to a long rod with T-bar end -

My problem with these, is 2 fold, 1/ the jaws never seem quite large enough & 2/ they always seem to release themselves at the wrong moment (when I'm applying max force to undo a really bastard (lime-scaled in/corroded) nut), usually resulting in skinned knuckles.

thoughts?

Tigger

It's times like these that I wish H2G2 supported line drawings in postings, despite my elsewhere-stated opposition to the gratuituous use of graphics.

It seems like the spring-loading is the weak point of that tool you describe. If some way were developed to make the jaws adhere better to the nut, life would improve. A quick-setting, quick-release adhesive? Nanotechnology "smart wrenches" that bond themselves on the molecular level? Darned if I know.

It occurs to me that for all the crescent & pipe wrenches I own, I don't have a single one with a truly comfortable handle. I can understand making box-end and open-end wrenches as small as possible to fit into tight spaces, but why can't we have, say, gel-filled handles on large pipe (Stilson) wrenches?

agreed, though I'd happily settle for rubber handles !

Tigger

by-the-by, the 2 C jaws face the same way, one is internally serrated, the other externally !

Ah yes, now I know precisely the tool that you're describing. There should be an archive of wrenches somewhere on the internet for times like these!

And of course, there's what used to be called the Mole Wrench (Mole is a trade name) - although I hate most adjustables, the ability to clamp, grip, etc makes it useful. In fact, I probably very rarely use mine as a wrench, it tends to get used for things such as clamping plates together before drilling/welding etc.

Crescent Wrenches 'Crestoloy' are made by Crescent(USA) I just call mine an adjustable spanner. Unlike inferior copies, if adjusted properly and applied the correct way round it does not slip neither does it assist in the rounding of nuts. Probably something to do with it being a precision tool rather than a cheap and nasty casting.