AF imperial Whitworth?

[tigdlo]

Even if you don't bother with old tat Whit/BS spanners are still nice to have for bsp stuff, the last 1/4 bsp male pcl air line fittings I bought were still whatever whitworth size 13.33mm is, I prefer them to adjustables or pliers/grips.

 

[DAPPH]

You can get a quality set of metric spanners , many of the non metrics are catered for by strange size AF's .

IIRC 50 or so years ago when I had the complete set of Saltus & Harzet spanners and sockets I had 2.5 ,3, 3.5 4. 4.5 5, 5.5 , 6.7 8.9 10.11 .12 13 14 15 ,16, 17 18 ,19 etc then on in mm steps right up to 35 mm in ROJ's and a lot of de OJ's & several of the more common DE OS ring spanners . I found very few nuts or bolts that would not undo with them especially with six point sockets instead of the usual bi hex sockets.

Nowadays unless you are going to pay a lot of money for precision made ones you'll get all manner of threads in British Chinese Eu American head standard forms where a metric will usually fit well. You'll often also get their special hexagonal pyramid faces too , to account for differing sizes which aren't much use to man nor beast .

 

[mtt.tr]

Even if you don't bother with old tat Whit/BS spanners are still nice to have for.......... .....

......hammering onto rounded of bolts

 

[Bornfree]

......hammering onto rounded of bolts

That's just evil

 

[mtt.tr]

That's just evil

I was born wild baby.

 

[dobbslc]

Well this is a complicated subject
It seems like I should get a set of AF and then some Whitworth spanners then. As @pete guessed I want some for the South Bend lathe but I want some proper old gnarly ones for this as it doesn't seem right using modern spanners on a 70+ year old machine
I was changing the flexy oil supply pipe on my boiler this week and the 3/8" fitting needed a 15mm spanner but that wasn't quite the right fit and it annoyed me. I'll have rummage through my dads old stuff and see what's hiding in the box.

 

[GRW]

Well this is a complicated subject
It seems like I should get a set of AF and then some Whitworth spanners then. As @pete guessed I want some for the South Bend lathe but I want some proper old gnarly ones for this as it doesn't seem right using modern spanners on a 70+ year old machine
I was changing the flexy oil supply pipe on my boiler this week and the 3/8" fitting needed a 15mm spanner but that wasn't quite the right fit and it annoyed me. I'll have rummage through my dads old stuff and see what's hiding in the box.

Be honest... you're just looking for validation for getting a load more toys (ahem, I mean essential tools)

 

[God mode restorations]

Old school full head whitworth. That's my favourite

 

[dobbslc]

Full head is everyone's favourite!

 

[vmaximus]

Had Brit bikes in the past from BSA aerial 3, C15 Aerial arrow, Velocette, Triton through ZX10 to V max only ever had Af and metric spanners and managed quite well. When I got rid of Af spanners as no longer used them I took up an allotment and found Briggs and stratton are Af and had to buy a cheap set again. Got a few Whit sockets but hardly ever used them. A mix of a few AF and metric is good enough for me.

 

[8ob]

The only whit spanner I use on a regular basis is 1/4" W for some of the battery terminal bolts. Noticed that some are metric these days.

Bob

 

[Bornfree]

I had a bloke work with me several years ago and he was Mr snap on. He had a massive roll cab full of snap on tools which he took pride in. He would buy from the van weekly all on credit. I asked him to do a job on a Gardner engine and he went from truck to toolbox about 10 times with increased swearing every time. Eventually he came over and said "I've got every size spanner that snap on do and nothing will fit these nuts" . I handed him an old britool 5/16-3/8 Whitworth ring spanner he studied it and was on the phone to the snap on man in minutes.

 

[anto44]

......hammering onto rounded of bolts

A 1/4" Allen key bit is ideal for hammering into a worn 6mm bolt

 

[colnerov]

Hi, Back in the late 70s when i was helping my mate we had a work experience lad in from his teacher wife's school. We tasked him with taking the head off a Hillman Minx, after much muttering and walking backwards and forwards between tool box and car outside we asked him "What are you doing?" he replied "I'm looking for the spanners with numbers on"... "They've all got numbers on". We then had to explain the differences, I still don't think he fully grasped it.

Colin

 

[brightspark]

i got a nice set of gedore open ended whitworth spanners for 20 quid from a tool dealer at autojumble. must have been having a funny turn as he is well clued up on the prices and would have easily sold for 30 quid

 

[Morrisman]

Get a set of metric, and a set of imperial. They'll fit any nut or bolt you have, regardless of what the size on the spanner says.

And if that fails, there this:

 

[brightspark]

Get a set of metric, and a set of imperial. They'll fit any nut or bolt you have, regardless of what the size on the spanner says.

whitworth is imperial just shell out for all 3 types for what its worth couldnt be bothered rooting though to see what fits and what doesn't i dont look at whats wrote on them just look at the nut and generaly it fits the one i choose

 

[Rannsachair]

My most used spanners are Whitworth, though I mainly use Geodore, made in Germany rather than my Britool:

 

[DAPPH]

A 1/4" Allen key bit is ideal for hammering into a worn 6mm bolt

Were you a butcher in a former life ?

 

[anto44]

Were you a butcher in a former life ?

I'm not sure what I was in a previous life but I'm paying for it in this one