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RapidSlide Adjustable Wrench

mechanomy.com

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Re: RapidSlide Adjustable Wrench

#21

Post by animal_spirits »

not_the_fda wrote: post #16
Eduardo3rd wrote: post #3

I've long subscribed to the philosophy that you should buy the cheapest tool you can find and use safely, use it until it wears out, breaks, or your skill surpasses the capability of the tool - and only then should you spend money on high quality tools. Too much money is thrown away in the name of "buy once, cry once" only to discover that you don't need the capabilities offered by the top of the line options.

I strongly disagree. Cheap tools are a pain to use, and break when you need them most, and perpetuate throw away culture. If a good tool is too expensive to own find a rental or buy used, otherwise buy high quality. High quality is a joy to work with and will serve you a long time.

I follow this sentiment. Buy nice or buy twice

Re: RapidSlide Adjustable Wrench

#22

Post by xd »

cjensen wrote: post #14
Eduardo3rd wrote: post #3

I've long subscribed to the philosophy that you should buy the cheapest tool you can find and use safely, use it until it wears out, breaks, or your skill surpasses the capability of the tool - and only then should you spend money on high quality tools. Too much money is thrown away in the name of "buy once, cry once" only to discover that you don't need the capabilities offered by the top of the line options.

There is also a safety concern with overly cheap tools. For an example, the adjustable wrench in this article. What happens when you apply a lot of force on a stubborn nut? If the wrench experiences rapid unscheduled disassembly, you now have broken pieces flying in random directions. In the US, the thing that most prevents this from being a problem is the threat of liability lawsuits. That doesn't apply to a tool ma…

Biggest worry would be smashing your knuckles on something when it gives up not the thing exploding.

Re: RapidSlide Adjustable Wrench

#23

Post by oflannabhra »

Eduardo3rd wrote: post #3

I've long subscribed to the philosophy that you should buy the cheapest tool you can find and use safely, use it until it wears out, breaks, or your skill surpasses the capability of the tool - and only then should you spend money on high quality tools. Too much money is thrown away in the name of "buy once, cry once" only to discover that you don't need the capabilities offered by the top of the line options.

I mostly follow this, with the additional criteria of how often the tool will be used affecting the level of quality of my initial purchase.

“Buy once, cry once” is basically the opposite of your philosophy, and my personal philosophy lies somewhere in the middle.

Re: RapidSlide Adjustable Wrench

#25

Post by rob74 »

Eduardo3rd wrote: post #3

I've long subscribed to the philosophy that you should buy the cheapest tool you can find and use safely, use it until it wears out, breaks, or your skill surpasses the capability of the tool - and only then should you spend money on high quality tools. Too much money is thrown away in the name of "buy once, cry once" only to discover that you don't need the capabilities offered by the top of the line options.

> I've long subscribed to the philosophy that you should buy the cheapest tool you can find and use safely [...] Too much money is thrown away in the name of "buy once, cry once" only to discover that you don't need the capabilities offered by the top of the line options.

How about something in between these two extremes? You don't need to go "top of the line", but you can save yourself a lot of frustration if you spend a little more than the absolute minimum...

Re: RapidSlide Adjustable Wrench

#26

Post by bluedino »

not_the_fda wrote: post #16
Eduardo3rd wrote: post #3

I've long subscribed to the philosophy that you should buy the cheapest tool you can find and use safely, use it until it wears out, breaks, or your skill surpasses the capability of the tool - and only then should you spend money on high quality tools. Too much money is thrown away in the name of "buy once, cry once" only to discover that you don't need the capabilities offered by the top of the line options.

I strongly disagree. Cheap tools are a pain to use, and break when you need them most, and perpetuate throw away culture. If a good tool is too expensive to own find a rental or buy used, otherwise buy high quality. High quality is a joy to work with and will serve you a long time.

I think he means more towards 'buy the cheapest, but quality tool'

You don't want to use a dollar store screwdriver but at the same time you probably don't need a Wera.

I have a friend who has a fault of buying the best of everything, for example he bought a $300 Milwaukee cordless to hang some pictures on the wall, because "One day I might want to build a swingset". It's been 8 years and he never built that swingset.

Re: RapidSlide Adjustable Wrench

#27

Post by mauvehaus »

I haven't yet run across an adjustable wrench that was worth a shit. Even old (notionally decent?) Crescent ones.

The jaws invariably splay when you apply force, even if you're using them correctly. I've come to the conclusion that it's just intrinsic to having a moving jaw that moves easily enough to be useful.

At this point, if I expect to need the wrench ever again (or need to reuse the fastener), I'll just buy a proper wrench for it. The couple of Crescent wrenches I keep are for emergencies and plumbing (because I don't have combo wrenches that big and do it infrequently), nothing more.

Vise-grips? Another tool that I find is more apt to round something than grip it properly. If I'm reaching for them, I figure I'm already so dicked that I'm unlikely to make it worse. Once in a while they get me out of an otherwise unavoidable trip to the hardware store.

Re: RapidSlide Adjustable Wrench

#28

Post by LeifCarrotson »

cjensen wrote: post #14
Eduardo3rd wrote: post #3

I've long subscribed to the philosophy that you should buy the cheapest tool you can find and use safely, use it until it wears out, breaks, or your skill surpasses the capability of the tool - and only then should you spend money on high quality tools. Too much money is thrown away in the name of "buy once, cry once" only to discover that you don't need the capabilities offered by the top of the line options.

There is also a safety concern with overly cheap tools. For an example, the adjustable wrench in this article. What happens when you apply a lot of force on a stubborn nut? If the wrench experiences rapid unscheduled disassembly, you now have broken pieces flying in random directions. In the US, the thing that most prevents this from being a problem is the threat of liability lawsuits. That doesn't apply to a tool ma…

What's going to happen is that the nut will round over, because there's little in this design to prevent the jaw back-driving the helix. Having used a lot of adjustable wrenches, and rounded over quite a few bolts, now I keep sets of open-end wrenches in reach on the toolbench and for adjustables I carry exclusively Knipex Pliers Wrenches, which are awesome tools. There's no way you're breaking the casting of the wrench without a big cheater bar, which I admit to having used...while wearing safety glasses.

Re: RapidSlide Adjustable Wrench

#29

Post by darksaints »

not_the_fda wrote: post #16
Eduardo3rd wrote: post #3

I've long subscribed to the philosophy that you should buy the cheapest tool you can find and use safely, use it until it wears out, breaks, or your skill surpasses the capability of the tool - and only then should you spend money on high quality tools. Too much money is thrown away in the name of "buy once, cry once" only to discover that you don't need the capabilities offered by the top of the line options.

I strongly disagree. Cheap tools are a pain to use, and break when you need them most, and perpetuate throw away culture. If a good tool is too expensive to own find a rental or buy used, otherwise buy high quality. High quality is a joy to work with and will serve you a long time.

I've been burned repeatedly by your philosophy. It only seems to hold if you know exactly what you want. I've got closets littered with high quality things that I don't ever use anymore because I lost interest before I could ever appreciate its quality.

Re: RapidSlide Adjustable Wrench

#30

Post by mitthrowaway2 »

mauvehaus wrote: post #27

I haven't yet run across an adjustable wrench that was worth a shit. Even old (notionally decent?) Crescent ones. The jaws invariably splay when you apply force, even if you're using them correctly. I've come to the conclusion that it's just intrinsic to having a moving jaw that moves easily enough to be useful. At this point, if I expect to need the wrench ever again (or need to reuse the fastener), I'll just buy a…

> haven't yet run across an adjustable wrench that was worth a shit.

I found some truly excellent ones at hardware stores in Japan. For some reason they don't sell them elsewhere.

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