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ray hampton
10-19-2011, 12:02 AM
a comment were made on the Perry Mason show about a unusual tool, a right-hand monkey wrench for left-hand bolts and nuts, my question is , do this wrench tighten or loosed the nut?
dave toney
10-19-2011, 7:46 AM
a comment were made on the Perry Mason show about a unusual tool, a right-hand monkey wrench for left-hand bolts and nuts, my question is , do this wrench tighten or loosed the nut?
A monkey wrench is an adjustable wrench for large nuts and bolts, it looks like a pipe wrench without serrated jaws.
They are not right or left handed.
Phil Thien
10-19-2011, 8:53 AM
Was it metric? That makes all the difference in the world.
Joe Angrisani
10-19-2011, 8:57 AM
To the best of my knowledge, only steam wrenches are right-handed and left-handed.
Tom Winship
10-19-2011, 8:59 AM
Both metric and SAE.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/45/Tweedy_and_Popp_-_hand-forged_adjustable_wrench.jpg/350px-Tweedy_and_Popp_-_hand-forged_adjustable_wrench.jpg (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/wiki/File:Tweedy_and_Popp_-_hand-forged_adjustable_wrench.jpg)
David G Baker
10-19-2011, 10:56 AM
I have several monkey wrenches but have never used one successfully. I have used them as a hammer on occasion. Guess I never learned how to use one correctly.
Stephen Tashiro
10-19-2011, 11:23 AM
Monkey wrenches have a threaded portion of one jaw, so I suppose the threading could be either left handed or right handed. I haven't examined my collection to see if they all have right handed threads, but I suspect they do. Not being left handed, I can't testify whether a left handed thread would be convenient to a left handed person.

It's hard to visualize how these wrenches were used. They look like something that would work on large square nuts and bolt heads. The jaws on old monkey wrenches don't adjust to give a tight grip. They have a slight "give" to them, similar to what happens with cheap "crescent" style wrenches. The jaws of monkey wrenches don't have teeth, so the wrench doesn't marr the thing you turn with it. ("Pipe wrenches" with a slightly flexible toothed jaw are often called monkey wrenches, but they aren't.)
David G Baker
10-19-2011, 12:56 PM
I usually round bolt heads and nuts so I have to end up using a pipe wrench or a chisel to loosen them. My monkey wrenches stay is a drawer where they have been for years and will probably stay there.
ray hampton
10-19-2011, 4:17 PM
everyone that answer my post seems to know monkey wrenches, do movie companies make incorrect statements to sale more films or because they do not know any better, monkey wrenches/ pipe wrenches and crescent wrenches all work better if the force or torque is apply against the wrench back not the moving jaws
Mike Wilkins
10-19-2011, 4:26 PM
My Grandad had a collection of those from when he worked on the railroad. Greedy cousins took them after his passing. I have one but don't recall ever using it for a real nut job.
george wilson
10-19-2011, 9:58 PM
The best adjustable wrench I ever had was made by the Williamsburg Blacksmiths. It was 18th.C. style. Had a captured sliding wedge that you tapped into place when the wrench was adjusted. That wrench NEVER SLIPPED,EVER. It wasn't mine personally. Made for working on the repro fire engine we made in 1982.
Rick Potter
10-20-2011, 2:59 AM
Mine fits Whitworth bolts too.

Rick Potter
ray hampton
10-20-2011, 3:17 PM
The best adjustable wrench I ever had was made by the Williamsburg Blacksmiths. It was 18th.C. style. Had a captured sliding wedge that you tapped into place when the wrench was adjusted. That wrench NEVER SLIPPED,EVER. It wasn't mine personally. Made for working on the repro fire engine we made in 1982.

the sliding wedge is a improved on all adjustable wrench, I got a crescent wrench that close the gap between the jaws every time that I use it