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• This multi-wrench calls itself “tactical”. I have absolutely no idea what that’s supposed to mean.

• Three-way Square Wrench

• Sheet metal stamping isn’t just for small wrenches. This monster stamped wrench is about 20 inches (500mm) long and weighs several pounds. Even at that size, the edges are uncomfortably sharp.

• This Altman wrench is used to turn handles on theatrical lighting equipment.

• Antique Box End Wrench

• This octagonal wrench is designed for the wire wheels on an MG Midget Triumph.

• Two-sided heads—flat tabs—are found on some gas and water shutoff valves. This wrench is meant for emergency use, for example after an earthquake. Ordinary crescent wrenches also work on these.

• Water pipe plugs often have square heads.

• Cast Iron pipe fitting.

• Strictly speaking this drain plug wrench belongs in the drivers chapter, because it drives from the inside, not the outside like a wrench. But it’s so big….

• This eight-sided valve head is designed for the most versatile wrench in the world: your hand.

• Drain plugs, on the other hand, often have square holes, which require a square-peg wrench.

• This much larger octagonal nut is how wheels on some exotic cars are held on, instead of separate lug nuts. The 250-300 foot-pounds of torque listed is a lot of torque.

• My kits at mechanicalgifs.com include two sizes of stamped wrench, which I get in quantities of 5000 at a time for embarrassingly little money. This is the 3/16” (4.8mm) one.

• My kits at mechanicalgifs.com include two sizes of stamped wrench, which I get in quantities of 5000 at a time for embarrassingly little money.

• Bicycle Multi-Wrench

• Bicycles have several standard nuts and keyed shafts on the pedals, gears, and steering column, for which custom stamped wrenches are available. I have to admit these are pretty useful because they can slip in the very narrow gaps around the pedals and gears on bicycles.

• Antique Multi-Wrench

• People have been making multi-wrenches for a long time, as shown by these strangely attractive rusty examples.

• Stamped Wrenches

• Not sure what this one is for.

• This maybe isn’t a wrench in the classic sense, but it’s designed to rotate a two-sided thing (a joist or deck board), so I’m including it here. The goal would be to straighten the board out for nailing.

• Tiny wrenches for tiny nuts.

• The pointed handle of this spud wrench is used to align the holes in two pieces of metal, so you can drop a bolt through them.

• Six-sided nuts and bolts are so common.

• Wrench openings with 6 faces have maximum surface area in contact with each face, which is good. But you have to turn them at least 30 degrees (and flip them over) to move to a new face. Notice that the flats are at a 15-degree angle to the handle.

• A simple open-ended wrench, elegantly curved in this antique example, works on any bolt or nut with an even number of sides. Of course you need a different one for each size.

• Square Peg Driver

• Diamond Peg Driver

• These I’m not sure about. They could be handles, or they could be wrenches for turning something on a piece of machinery. The inscription “always turn to the right” on one of them implies maybe it manually cranks some kind of gear mechanism.

• Flare Nut Wrenches

• Color coding makes these combination wrenches fun and easy to tell apart.

• Wrenches with 12-sided openings are still meant for 6-sided nuts, but you only have to turn them 15 degrees (1/24 of a turn) to move to the next position.

• Bicycle Multi-Wrench

• Assorted Stamped Wrenches

• Multi-Wrench

• Large Hex Wrench

• Combination wrench sets are a core part of any mechanic’s toolbox.

• This plastic wrench is a good example of a wrench that doesn’t need to be strong. It’s for removing water filters, and if the filter is on tighter than this wrench can handle, it’s probably going to break anyway.

• Large-diameter nuts on pipes often have eight sides. The more sides, the less extra material is needed to fit around a circular pipe.

• Both closed and open wrenches on the same end? And a socket on the other end? OK, whatever floats your boat. This old wrench was made by Ford to fit some very specific combination of fasteners used on a particular line of cars.

• One theory about alligator wrenches is that they were meant to work with square nuts, which used to be more common.

• More exotically, you can get wrenches that have an open end wrench on one side, and a socket wrench on the other.

• Nice idea, looks good in the store. I got this one in an auction lot and apparently the original purchaser realized how useless it would be before they even opened the package.

• This one has sockets at both ends, and is offset, but in what seems like a not very useful way.

• Alternately, you can have two box ends, of different sizes. These are offset, making it less likely that you’ll skin your knuckles using them.

• Socket and Open-End Wrenches

• You can have both an open and a box end on the same wrench, in which case both are typically the same size, and you need twice as many wrenches.

• Combination Wrench

• A single-ended, box-end wrench is a good candidate for a helper pipe, since the box end can sustain greater force.

• Combination Wrench

• Wrenches that are open on both ends typically have two different sizes, cutting in half the number of wrenches you need in a set.

• Small Wrench Set

• These odd wrenches, according to their patent, are less likely to slip off the nut because of the asymmetrical shape of their jaws. The patent makes a case based on math and the properties of steel, but their lack of popularity makes a stronger case that they don’t really work that well.

• These wrenches are meant for flare nut pipe fittings. The opening is just big enough to get around the pipe that the nut is over, while still contacting five out of the six faces of the nut.

• This tortured set of wrenches came to me in an auction lot. Clearly hand-modified from straight originals, I can only assume that whoever made these either had some crazy idea of how to use wrenches, or some crazy machine that required these shapes.

• If you don’t mind having a lot of separate wrenches, you can have single open end on each one. The plain handle lets you slip a pipe on for added leverage.

• There are many standard stamped wrenches available, but having a custom punch and die made costs only a few hundred dollars, so manufactures are free to specify the exact wrench needed for their particular kit.

• This light-weight wrench is for turning the octagonal nuts on larger panel switches.

• This looks like an ordinary box-end wrench, but count the sides: it’s got 8.

• It turns something....

• Lots of square openings here!

• Simple offset wrench.

• Wrenches are everywhere.

Do you have a better example of this kind of tool? Let me know by leaving a comment, and include a picture of it if you can so everyone can see!