Spanners cost??!

As our new to us old boat is still a legacy of Imperialism, I had to update my boat tool kit to include imperial measures to my spanners, looking around the suppliers here in Limburg the cheapest set I could find was €129 for a small socket set, and other sets just got dearer from there.
I knew I had a good Imperial/Metric 1/2" drive socket set in the UK, I picked that up while I was home, it is from Teng Tools, as are the majority of my tools.
In my garage I have a range of socket sets both imperial and metric from 1/4" drive up to 1" drive for the larger sizes.
I did get a nice little set of combination spanners from Amazon for £40 that I can use on the boat and leave my good Teng (metric), and Britool (imperial), ones in my tool box in the garage.
 
john_morris_uk said:
How much do you spend on spanners? I recently saw a YouTube clip where various makes of spanners were tested. I like good quality tools so I looked up how much the best rated combination spanner sets are according to this particular test site.

https://www.raptorsupplies.co.uk/pd/proto/jscvm-20sb

I think I’ll stick with my Halfords Professional set along with the one or two Snap-On ones I’ve acquired over the years.
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It doesnt actually say what head sizes there are. Many sets miss out 11m for instance which was a right so for my fuel separator which had 11mm bleed nut which an adjustable would not fit on. The price seems way too high for the set to start with.

However to those who say cheap is good enough - have you ever has spanner snap throwing your hand onto sharp metal, has your spanner ever slipped damaging the nut?

My son now becoming a professional plumber now has a small £50 auto adjustable. Easier to use in confined space and doesnt muck up the the nut. Time is money and leaving equipment damaged due to badly fitting kit and sheer disgrace.

By cheap by twice, but still watch out for expensive snake oil
 
scozzy said:
... the easier it is to watch it disappear into the big blue halfway thru a job....so i spend a bit more on other boaty things than spanners..
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Smart man, experience has taught me that Snap-On and the like sink at pretty much the same speed as cheaper spanners and are obviously more slippery... you occasionally catch/save a falling cheap tool, but never the expensive ones
 
BobnLesley said:
Smart man, experience has taught me that Snap-On and the like sink at pretty much the same speed as cheaper spanners and are obviously more slippery... you occasionally catch/save a falling cheap tool, but never the expensive ones
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repairing the searchlight on Hunter I was using my trusty PZ2 screwdriver from my screwdriver set that I have used for more than 40 years when a nice passing boat rocked Hunter with it's wash and I watched as my PZ2 rolled off the cabin top, bounced onto the lower cabin top fell on to the deck and rolled to the starboard side where it stopped at the toe rail, I let out a sigh of relief and then a second later watched it do a summersault and disappeared into 7m of muddy bottom, never found it or the magnet was not strong enough. Sigh!
 
BobnLesley said:
Smart man, experience has taught me that Snap-On and the like sink at pretty much the same speed as cheaper spanners and are obviously more slippery... you occasionally catch/save a falling cheap tool, but never the expensive ones
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Surprised by all those referring to losing spanners over the side - the vast majority of nuts and bolts on our boat are below decks (engine etc).
Lost plenty of cheap screwdrivers and pliers OB, always due to stupidity. But anything more valuable attach a string to it when working above deck - certainly if up mast.
 
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oldmanofthehills said:
It doesnt actually say what head sizes there are. Many sets miss out 11m for instance which was a right so for my fuel separator which had 11mm bleed nut which an adjustable would not fit on.....
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That will almost certainly be 7/16", same as the centre bolt on the 296 filter.

Also, Whitworth hexagons still seem to be standard for pipe fittings. It's worth having the extra 3 or 4 spanners in your kit.
 
john_morris_uk said:
How much do you spend on spanners? I recently saw a YouTube clip where various makes of spanners were tested. I like good quality tools so I looked up how much the best rated combination spanner sets are according to this particular test site.

https://www.raptorsupplies.co.uk/pd/proto/jscvm-20sb

I think I’ll stick with my Halfords Professional set along with the one or two Snap-On ones I’ve acquired over the years.
Click to expand...
I got all my tools from the Age Concern shop in Exeter until they closed it.

As old men died their tools were given to the charity and you could pick up some bargains.
 
Sandy said:
I got all my tools from the Age Concern shop in Exeter until they closed it.

As old men died their tools were given to the charity and you could pick up some bargains.
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That source will be in decline given the devastating attacks on industry in the 1980s. Not so many fitters buying tools after that.
 
I determined many years ago that considering the total cost of the tools in my shop was too depressing. Instead, I consider the cost per job successfully completed, over the years. Very low. Some tools pay for themselves with a single use, and most keep paying long after that, when you have the tools and skills to knocks something out, done right, in minutes, with minimal aggravation. Worth it.

I'm not a believer in top price for everything, unless it is a high-use tool and the use requires precision and strength (most wrenches!), and I'm not a believer in bottom price except for things I may not often use and where quality may not matter much (my heat gun is cheap but works fine--same with my hot knife).
 
DanTribe said:
I notice that those spanners are listed as being"reversing". Be a good companion to my left handed hammer.
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I think the basic ratchet spanner only ratchets one way - you undo with one side and then turn it over to retighten the nut. A "reversing spanner" seems to be a ratchet spanner with a switch to change ratcheting direction.
 
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