
I don’t know if it’s a regional, cultural, generational, or whatever thing, but when I was growing up there was always one drawer in the kitchen that had tools in it — things like a small hammer, regular pliers, a screwdriver or two, a tape measure, and a random collection of fasteners including nails, screws, and rubber bands. The kitchen tool drawer in my grandmother’s house had this neat little hammer with a handle that unscrewed to reveal a set of nested screwdrivers (still available ). I don’t know how useful it was, but it sure piqued my early Toolmonger brain.
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Dealmonger: 8″ Crescent Adjustable Wrench $9.29

ANTOnline is offering a great deal on the 8″ Crescent adjustable wrench, priced at $9.29. Featuring a black phosphate finish, it opens as wide as 15/16″ for all your loosening and tightening needs.
8″ Crescent Adjustable Wrench [ANTOnline]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]
Wrap A Chain Around Your Pipe Problems

Crescent may not call it a monkey wrench, but many of their retailers do. It’s clear their Auto Wrench — John Piccone gonna sue somebody! — evolved from the wrench Charles Moncky patented. Witness its flat toothless jaws and how the lower jaw adjusts instead of the upper. This is no pipe wrench.
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We’ve written about Crescent’s RapidRrench before, but we’d like to know what you think about it. Cooper Tools claims this’ll “accommodate up to 38 different bolt/nut sizes,” but will it round ’em off?
More to the point, even if you wouldn’t give up correctly-sized wrenches, would this make sense in a situation where you’d sacrifice the perfect tool for an OK tool that’s smaller (and cheaper), like maybe homeowner’s toolkit? Or a car emergency kit?
And most significantly — do any of you own one of these?
Let us know in comments.
It’s easy to forget that the adjustment part of adjustable wrenches don’t require much force; All that’s required is that you adjust the wrench’s jaws to fit the bolt — not crush it. Thankfully some manufacturers haven’t forgotten this simple fact, and have come out with some cool alternatives to the standard thumb-wheel adjuster. To adjust the RapidSlide, for example, you simply move the slide-button mechanism back and forth.
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