Thread: Wrenches

Originally Posted by 32t

Are the colors sizes or maybe company colors?

United States Steel, American Bridge Construction Division, painted their wrenches, tool sheds and gang boxes green way back. When I worked for them they had changed the default color to blue, as seen in the wrenches. That 1" hard that is painted orange I don't know about. I think that was a company color at one time, I never painted it. I just don't remember where or when I got it. Sizes were stamped in the shank of the wrench, 3/4 HS (high strength), 7/8 HS. If it was for soft bolts it wouldn't have the 'HS'.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

I know tools, but what is a spud wrench?? I would assume that the tapered end is used to align the holes in girders?? is this correct/

Yeah, that is correct. Here are a couple of pix I took when I was a second year apprentice of two guys making some iron. When they made the one side the guy in the green shirt walked around the choker to the loose end where you see him in the last photo before he made that end.

Those pics are a sign of the times. Now ya can't even walk within 6' of an open edge without being tied off. The so called safety is more dangerous than a competent jiw walking free on the iron.

I have read that american Indians are the primary steel workers today,if true,why??

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

I have read that american Indians are the primary steel workers today,if true,why??

I personally never worked with any. But we come from all ethnic backgrounds. My area most are Irish. The theory behind native Americans is they have no natural fear of heights. Or at least that's the reasoning I've heard.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

I have read that american Indians are the primary steel workers today,if true,why??

The Mohawks started doing ironwork at the turn of the century when a bunch of them got killed on a bridge over the St. Lawrence river that went in the hole. Anyway ........

I worked with a lot of Mohawks in both Minnesota and in North New Jersey. Some of them were crackerjacks and some were not so hot. About like anyone else really. The best connectors I ever saw were Neil Monahan, Pierce Lindsay and Lou Humphries. None were Mohawks, though I'm sure they had their share of good connectors.

The North Jersey and the NY city structural locals were predominantly Irish back in the old days. It was a father/son thing and though there were other ethnicities in there back when I worked in those areas those locals still were largely Irish. Corbett was business manager in NYC local 40 for like 50 years.

Here are a couple of plates AB used to mount on their tool sheds so they would know what they weighed. Guys used to make belt buckles out of 'em.

]

Originally Posted by Sailor

If you want to use wrenches that are made to last from father to son (and to grandson and so on) there are still some good brands like Stahlwille, Gedore, Facom etc. Snap-on makes some decent tools but some of their innovations are bit childish, imho. I know that they use Facom hand tools in local nuclear plant workshops.

These days I buy only facom. Very expensive, but worth every cent.
I like Gedore too, but is is not sold in many places around here. I've worked with Gedore tools and was really impressed with the quality and toughness.

Originally Posted by meleii

Those pics are a sign of the times. Now ya can't even walk within 6' of an open edge without being tied off. The so called safety is more dangerous than a competent jiw walking free on the iron.

True.

On the other hand, in those days, companies didn't get sued for millions if a worker slipped and fell to his death. And any project of that size had a significant death toll.

Also in those days lawyers didn't advertise themselves on TV telling people to sue everyone.

I noticed something years ago. Has anyone ever noticed that MAC wrenches are left handed wrenches? Anyone know why?

GearWrench makes some decent good wrenches and ratchet sets. I bought a few of these micro-driver sets from GearWrench because they were marked down to an insane price one day at Lowe's. I bought all they had and ended up keeping 4 sets for myself and have them spread throughout the garage, workshop, etc. This set is very HANDY for small projects or anything requiring an allen wrench because you can ratchet with the allen bits it comes with. This brand makes nice tools.

They also come with a Lifetime warranty.

Sears.com