Varying hardness in combination wrenches

Rc 59 sounds awfully high to me as well. Allen specifies a hardness of Rc 45 for very large hex keys to Rc 52 for small sizes. I've made many special tools by cutting and welding various pieces of wrenches and sockets and have never run across one that wouldn't cut with a good hacksaw, though often to the detriment of the hacksaw.

Both made in Chuna with no quality control.

yay, just keep buying them until one is right.

I used to work for a heat treating company. One day we started getting ALL the socket wrench stuff from a major mfr when their normal heat treater's factory burned down. We'd receive 1000 pound pallets of each part and heat treat each pallet load as it arrived. 1000 pounds of 1/2" sockets, 1000 pounds of 9/16" sockets, etc. Could be that that super hard wrench was in a batch of that same size the got quenched in water instead of oil. But the point is that just because they came from the same mfr, doesn't mean they were made the same day or the same way.

Anyway, I'm glad to know that I'm not the only guy who saves up flea market wrenches for just that use. I even have a list of sockets and wrench size that I mean to take with me when I go to the next flea market. Too bad that I always forget the list when I go!

Pete Stanaitis

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D> Recently I decided to get a couple of combination wrenches the right

that'll make all the difference then!

I would have thought 'manufactured in the same plant and heat treated in the same batch' would have seen some factors that mattered. buying them in the same shop on the same day. ....silly me :-)

45c vs 59c would have been determined by the annealing reheat after the initial hardening. you would have to wonder at the heat gradient between the heat source and the spread of items in the batch to cause that difference.

also we talk of particular alloys, but in reality they have a spread of component percentages between batches.

it is interesting but I doubt that in normal use anyone would have ever noticed. btw if you grind the ring off what do you use when hanging them up?

Stealth Pilot

Doesn't surprise me in the least. Some one else mentioned the heat treat plants and the big batches. I can confirm that the last thing anyone wants is to have similar looking parts running through the plant on the same day. Way too easy to get them mixed, even if you are studiously following your ISO9002 procedures (and China plants typically don't have a clue on this!!)

Sounds like 5/8" size batch didn't get enough soak time in the tempering oven.

Yeahbut you could probably buy enough of them to select the top three units for what you would pay for one produced under ISO guidelines. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

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Well ... given the information available when I purchased them, "the same brand" is as close as I can come to "manufactured in the same plant", let alone batch information. No way of telling whether these were even shipped to the shop in the same delivery.

How many wrenches have *you* bought which indicated which batch they were in the heat treatment? (Unless you buy military aircraft certified wrenches direct from the maker -- which I would *not* treat this way. :-)

And I consider it quite unlikely that the 5/8" and the 1" were heat treated in the same batch. I would expect each batch to be all of one size -- especially the 1" ones which were pretty close to the largest in that line. But I *would* expect a bit more consistency between batches.

The handle markings (now mostly gone thanks to the grinding thinner) were the same style of lettering, which may or may not mean that they were made in the same factory -- or just that the distributor has very precise specifications on the markings. :-)

Of course.

Unless they put too much side pressure on it when using the ring spanner (box) end. Then a sudden "plink" with the 5/8", and possibly an intersting cut in the hand which was pulling on it.

The ring is of no use with the TapMatic heads, and by cutting the shanks shorter they are easier to use on the drill press, *and* they fit in the drawer which holds the other RubberFlex collets and the other accumulated accessories for the TapMatic heads.

More than just the ring was cut off to make the handles short enough.

So -- I *do* plan to drill a hole in each near the end, and use that as a pivot point for rounding the end of the handle. And then a wire of appropriate length will be used to keep the two wrenches (tap chuck body and tap chuck collet closer) together. And before you ask, the 5/8" and the 1" are both collet closer wrenches for two sizes of chucks -- other sizes fit the bodies, and those are the ones which will be linked to the collet closer wrenches.

Enjoy, DoN.