Wiha’s narrow-profile pipe wrenches fit into places a normal pipe wrench couldn’t reach, even after a crash diet. With three different lengths and three different jaw styles, one of these nine wrenches is bound to do the job.

Wiha forges their narrow-profile pipe wrenches from high-quality CV tool steel, and they induction-harden the jaws for durability and long life. Self-clamping, raked, and serrated jaws grab the pipe without slippage and adjust quickly with the rapid-adjust nut.

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Wiha makes excellent precision screwdrivers, but their full-sized drivers deserve the same praise. The ribbed tips on Wiha’s Anti-Cam-Out screwdrivers prevent the tool from slipping off of fasteners, which prevents damaged fasteners and personal injury. Their comfortable and contoured no-roll handles, durable tips, and low cost make Wiha’s A.C.O. and 3K screwdrivers great tools.

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Wiha makes a lot of great tools, and they’re currently offering a free pair of lineman’s pliers when you spend $100 or more on their website. The pliers retail for $23, are made from forged CV tool steel, and feature hardened jaws and cutting edges held together with heavy-duty steel rivets. They also include soft vinyl grip handles which are oil and solvent resistant.

If you’re looking for suggestions on what to buy, I recommend the Tech Rack that contains 50 of Wiha’s precision series tools including ten slotted, four Philips, ten nut drivers, ten torx, six metric hex, ten standard hex, and a chip lifter.

Free Pliers with $100 Spent [Wiha Tools]
Tech Rack [Wiha Tools]

Phillip writes: “When you need to set a hex head fastener in an out-of-the-way spot, nothing beats an actual magnetic nut setter.  Otherwise, you can make up the tool with multiple pieces that prove to be a wobbly headache at best.  Extended-length nut setters are usually hard to find.  Well, you can grab one of these one-piece nutsetters from Wiha.  The Type 704 series are available in 2.5″, 4″, 6″, and 12″ lengths in 1/4″, 5/16″, and 3/8″ socket sizes with a 1/4″ hex power drive to fit, for example, your impact driver.  Right now through April 30, 2007 the 12″ set of 3 (sizes include 1/4″, 5/16″ and 3/8″) is marked down direct from Wiha from $29.94 to $19.46 for a $10.48 savings.  They also use a permanent magnet for a strong hold.”

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We’re always looking at new and different types of wrenches that promise to make our lives better; maybe Wiha’s soft grip wrenches can help.  The idea is that they’re more comfortable to use and easier to get a hold of than normal non-cushy wrenches. 

The grip my indeed be more comfortable to grab a hold of, but several concerns immediately spring to mind:  My first thought was that our wrenches get dirty.  When we use a wrench, we use it, which means it often ends up coaded in oil, grease and grime.  Cleaning them up is as simple as a good wipe-down with a rag.  The cushioned grip looks like it might take some doing to get clean.

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Know what I wish I had?  A third hand.  Yeah, I’d look like one of those freaks from the sewer in Futurama, but at least I could position a fastener and attach it at the same time.  (And solder, for that matter.) 

Think of Wiha’s Magic Ring torx system as a third hand without the social consequences: it can free up one of your two, which is almost just as good really. 

The Magic Ring looks almost like any other standard ball-tipped torx tool except for the small black ring located near the tip of the ball.  This ring “snaps” into the well on the head of the fastener and holds it securely (up to 25 degrees off-angle) while you position it.

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Torque control wrenches and screwdrivers help you put things together the right way the first time.  But while torque wrenches are commonplace, you just don’t see that many torque screwdrivers around.  We wrote about one a while back, but it was a bit pricey.  Wiha makes a number of more reasonably priced torque screwdrivers — with great featuresets to boot.

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Folding rulers are by no means a new thing, but that’s no excuse for not having one.  The traditional wooden folding ruler your Dad had is probably sitting in the toolbox out in the shop right now.  The trouble with them has always been that you have to be careful to avoid snapping them like a twig when they’re over extended.  In this way, the MaxiFlex really stands out from your Dad’s ruler. 

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There’s really no excuse for using your standard old screwdriver when you’re working on house wiring, even if you’re certain that the circuit’s off and you think your standard screwdriver’ll protect you.  Why not give yourself another line of protection by using insulated tools as well? 

Wiha offers a variety of insulated tool sets, each consisting of different combinations of slotted and Phillips screwdrivers, as well as various pliers — all of which are rated for 1000V use.  Their most basic “starter sets” include a couple of screwdrivers and sstart around $25, while the most complex sets — like their 31 piece set — can run in excess of $500.

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We received an interesting request from a reader: where does one find Tamper-Resistant Torx drivers?  (According to the reader, the T8H is required to open the XBox 360’s wireless controllers.)

A quick Froogle search (link below) turned up plenty of mail order places right here in the U.S. that stock T8H drivers, but we prefer this set from Wiha Tools, which is available both online and in-store from Sears.

It includes a handle with a quick release and standard 1/4″ bit holder, and an assortment of 1/4″ bits including:

• Tamper-Resistant Torx, sizes T8H (for your 360 controller), T10H, T15H, T20H, T25H, T27H, T30H, and T40H
• Triwing, sizes 1, 2, 3, and 4
• Torq, sizes 6, 8, and 10
• Spanner, sizes 4, 6, 8, and 10
• Tamper-resistant hex, sizes 5/64, 3/32, 7/64, 1/8, 9/64, and 5/32
• Standard slotted in 6.5mm, 8mm
• Phillips in #1 and #2
• Pozidriv, sizes 0, 1, 2, and 3, and
• Square, sizes 1, 2 and 3

Sounds like any hardware hacker should have this set in their kit.  It’s a gathering of drivers for pretty much every unusual screw head we’ve seen in some time.

The Wiha 39 pc. Bit Set [Sears]
Torx T8H Vendors/Pricing [Froogle]