

Plumbers can definitely find value in owning one of these babies. It also provides a powerful grip around all types of nuts – soft or hard – while reducing the risk of stripping it. The open end allows you to slip the hose through it easily and securely. In fact, for all intents and purposes, that’s basically what it is.įlare-nut wrenches are used more for special tasks such as loosening nuts to replace hoses as mentioned above. Many people, the childhood versions of us included, assume that a flare-nut wrench is a broken box-end wrench since it has an open end. This is a tool that you’ve probably seen in your dad’s toolbox but never knew the purpose of. This is possible due to one of the sides – the one farthest away from the handle – is completely open. Instead of having two or six sides, it has five. A regular wrench is at one extreme (too weak a grip) while the box-end is at the other end of the spectrum (too powerful).Ī flare-nut wrench solves many of the problems that regular and box-end wrenches have. Also, nuts used for plumbing purposes are made of softer metals and can strip easily when using one of these tools. For instance, working under the hood of your car where you need to loosen nuts to replace hoses can be a pain since the box-end wrench wraps around it completely. However, it’s not always the most practical tool to use. A box-end wrench has a closed end which wraps completely around the nut, giving it a tight grip and giving you better leverage. It was designed to eliminate much of the gripping and slipping problems that a two-jaw wrench normally had to deal with. This wrench has sides opposed to the two of a regular wrench. There have been upgrades to the wrench, one of them being the box-end wrench. The same disadvantages in regular wrenches also apply to an adjustable spanner. Even though this lets you use one wrench for dealing with nuts of practically all sizes, it doesn’t provide a better grip. However, this also means the wrench won’t be able to fit in tight spaces like under the hood of a car.Īn adjustable spanner is a type of wrench with adjustable jaws. A longer handle gives you more leverage to release the nut’s demon-like grasp around the bolt.

One of the only ways you’re going to be able to break seized nuts is if the wrench is extremely long. You’re more likely going to injure your hand by banging it against another hard surface than you are loosening that darned nut.

First of all, the grip around a nut is weak at best, and extremely horrendous at most. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.įrom our past experiences and those of others, there are many more disadvantages to a regular wrench than there are benefits. If the nut is rusted and seized, even praying to the gods of tools won’t help you break it, and you’ll probably end up stripping the edges of the nut. What, do you live under a rock or somethingFor the minority of you indeed live underground and have never seen or heard of a wrench before in your life, the tool is used by slipping it around a nut you want to tighten or loosen.
