Looking really nice spanners what do you use

[Craig-SM]

I have and enjoy quite a few Halfords Advanced bits, very dependable quality and easy warranty for the price, especially if you get things on sale.

My only worry is, 'will Halfords still be in business when I need to warranty this one day?'

You need to worry more about who you get at Halfords. Professional (name before Advance) torque went ping so took it back and the young lad said this doesn't have a lifetime warranty only Advance does. Tried to argue it out and he got the assistant manager, who said the same thing but in a more derogatory tone. Just then the manager walked past with the regional manager so I collared them and it was the regional manager that said I was right and it was the previous name and warrantied. The name had only changed a couple of years ago.

Returning cracked sockets and broken bits (too often, now use Bahco) was always a lottery to which monkey would be operating the till to authorise the exchange show much more time was wasted on what started out as quick job. Luckily never had to exchange a spanner.

 

[Bornfree]

Kennedy pro at work have now done 20 years daily use just showing some wear on the common sizes, really nice to use similar shape and profile to snap on. These are a long spanner so tones of leverage but sometimes a bit awkward in tight spots (totally different beast to Kennedy standard spanner’s)

Facom 440 at home these did 2 years as a service engineer then got retired to my home workshop. These are a lot shorter than the Kennedy spanner’s but quite a bit chunkier one thing I have noticed is the jaws are a little bit wide. However they are one of the nicest spanner’s in the hand ( and Mac do an identical version just longer)

Facom 440s are ok until you get to 24mm then they get incredibly wide in the jaw, very strong but slightly impractical.

 

[keithski122]

So what you've found out is that everyone likes something different from each other!

 

[Jackimus]

You need to worry more about who you get at Halfords. Professional (name before Advance) torque went ping so took it back and the young lad said this doesn't have a lifetime warranty only Advance does. Tried to argue it out and he got the assistant manager, who said the same thing but in a more derogatory tone. Just then the manager walked past with the regional manager so I collared them and it was the regional manager that said I was right and it was the previous name and warrantied. The name had only changed a couple of years ago.

Returning cracked sockets and broken bits (too often, now use Bahco) was always a lottery to which monkey would be operating the till to authorise the exchange show much more time was wasted on what started out as quick job. Luckily never had to exchange a spanner.

Sheesh. I must have gotten lucky!

 

[eddie49]

The nicest pattern of spanner, though, is the French ' Cle a pipe', which is a bit like an Allen key, but female. Marvellous, they are.....

Do you mean these Facom box spanners?

 

[hotponyshoes]

Facom 440s are ok until you get to 24mm then they get incredibly wide in the jaw, very strong but slightly impractical.

They just look like the same but scaled up to me?
13mm vs 36mm

 

[Bornfree]

They just look like the same but scaled up to me?
13mm vs 36mm
View attachment 523206

I meant turn it 90° wide

 

[hotponyshoes]

I meant turn it 90° wide

5.7mm thick vs 12.8mm

If my maths is right the 36mm should be about 16mm thick so they actually get thinner as they get bigger?

 

[Dapph2]

I have a considerable variety of makes of spanner , if correct, they comprise :
Britool , Williams, Bedford, Garrington Kestrel, Snap-On, Blue Point, Facom, Stanley, Stahlwille, Snail, Elora, Gedore, Terry, Apollo,Melco, Rolls-Royce, BSA, and no doubt several others besides....
The nicest pattern of spanner, though, is the French ' Cle a pipe', which is a bit like an Allen key, but female.
Marvellous, they are.....

Who made your magneto spanner set ?

 

[Barking Mat]

The nicest pattern of spanner, though, is the French ' Cle a pipe', which is a bit like an Allen key, but female.
Marvellous, they are.....

First thing I did in my previous job was remove them from works toolbox, can't stand them.

 

[MetalMonkey]

Facom 440s are ok until you get to 24mm then they get incredibly wide in the jaw, very strong but slightly impractical.

Depends when you bought them, they revised them to make them 15% thinner.

 

[oldbikedavey]

Do you mean these Facom box spanners?
View attachment 523204

That's them ! Absolutely brilliant bits of kit.....

 

[oldbikedavey]

Who made your magneto spanner set ?

Terry....

 

[cheb]

I have a considerable variety of makes of spanner , if correct, they comprise :
Britool , Williams, Bedford, Garrington Kestrel, Snap-On, Blue Point, Facom, Stanley, Stahlwille, Snail, Elora, Gedore, Terry, Apollo,Melco, Rolls-Royce, BSA, and no doubt several others besides....
The nicest pattern of spanner, though, is the French ' Cle a pipe', which is a bit like an Allen key, but female.
Marvellous, they are.....

Facom 75 series. I bought a 10mm, liked it, bought a set, found I didn't like the larger sizes that much and then sold them. I've kept the original 10mm, it's covered in three layers of heat shrink for use on my vehicle battery terminals.

 

[oldbikedavey]

Facom 75 series. I bought a 10mm, liked it, bought a set, found I didn't like the larger sizes that much and then sold them. I've kept the original 10mm, it's covered in three layers of heat shrink for use on my vehicle battery terminals.

There's a bit of an odd niche for the things, in that smaller sized hex fasteners tend to be in smaller sized areas of access, I suppose.
My ones go from 8mm up to 14 mm hex, but are treasured.
Larger sizes tend to feel a bit over-clunky, somehow.

 

[Migmac]

I don’t own a complete set of spanners, got loads from different brands. Got some Wurth ones, they’re nice

 

[cheb]

That's pretty much what I found. A 7mm and an 8mm might be useful if I see them at the right price.

 

[oldbikedavey]

That's pretty much what I found. A 7mm and an 8mm might be useful if I see them at the right price.

I've got a 7mm and a 6mm ( from memory) , but they are ' Cle Nervus', which is an L-bent bit of hexagonal tubing, so not quite the same thing..
Elegant, though.....

 

[Robotstar5]

I quite like my RS Pro spanners, as they roll up neatly I carry them in a toolbag in the car.

 

[Farside]

I quite like my RS Pro spanners, as they roll up neatly I carry them in a toolbag in the car.

View attachment 523440

Amazing the number of makers jumped all over the expired S-O patents.
I have a set of Taskmaster spanners, almost exactly the same feel as S-O, but not quite the strength to them.