Combination Spanner (8mm)

Both ends of this tool fit the same fastener, and they get there in completely different ways. The open jaw slides on from the side and grips two flats. The ring drops over the top and surrounds all six. That difference decides which end you reach for, and it is not a matter of preference: the ring holds a nut from every direction and cannot spread off it, while an open jaw is holding only two faces and will splay under real load.

What makes the ring work is how it is made. The hexagonal opening is broached, which means a hardened toothed tool is drawn straight through the ring, each tooth cutting fractionally deeper than the one before it. The result is an opening with a consistent flat to flat dimension from top to bottom, which is exactly what you want, because a ring that is even slightly oversize contacts the nut on its corners rather than its faces. Corner contact is where rounded nuts come from. Broaching is an unglamorous process and it is most of the reason a good spanner grips and a poor one does not.

Eight millimetre heads appear on small engine and machinery fixings, brackets and mountings, electrical panels and enclosures, motorcycle ancillaries, appliance assemblies and general light fabrication.

The spanner is carbon steel, forged, hardened and tempered, finished in satin matt chrome. The matt finish is not a cost saving. A mirror polish throws glare back at you under a work light or in the sun, and it is harder to spot a crack or a spread jaw on a shiny surface than on a dull one.

Buyers are general fitters, motorcycle and vehicle workshops, electricians and panel builders, appliance repairers, maintenance technicians and hardware shops.

Ask on 94 77 111 8880 and we will price singles or the fifteen piece set, whichever suits. We deliver island-wide.