For the kitchen and bathroom plumbing crises that inevitably arise, and for automobile repairs, a wrench is one of the tool kit’s essential items.
A Stilson wrench has grooved jaws that allow you to get a firm grip on a smooth round pipe, and they are adjustable. Monkey wrenches are indispensable to turn screws and bolts and other heavy work. Try not to overstrain your household wrench by expecting the impossible.
Solid, nonadjustable wrenches with openings in each end are called open-end wrenches. In an average set there are about 10 wrenches with openings that range from 5/ 6 to 1 inch in width.
Adjustable wrenches are shaped somewhat similarly to open-end wrenches. The big difference is that one jaw is adjustable. The angle of the opening to the handle on an adjustable wrench is 22 1/2 degrees. It has a spiral screw-worm adjustment in the handle. The width of the jaws may be varied from 0 to 1/2 inch or more. This tool has smooth jaws, and is designed as an open-end wrench. It is an especially good emergency tool, since one adjustable wrench can be made to serve for several open-end wrenches.