Thread: Whitworth Spanners.

I've got a heap of them that are going rusty, all either Sidchrome or Britool. I'd get rid of them but every once in a blue moon they come in handy for gas bottles and a few other things.

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

I've got a heap of them that are going rusty, all either Sidchrome or Britool. I'd get rid of them but every once in a blue moon they come in handy for gas bottles and a few other things.

We could probably get rich, by selling our surplus Whitworth spanners to Canadian Wadkin owners .

Cheers, Vann.

Looks good Vann.

Both my MW lathe and Mill are BSW and none of the few spanners I already had fit.
I then searched through the metal filing cabinet drawer full of unwanted spanners at the mens shed, most were stuffed but I found some of sizes I needed that weren't in too bad a shape
For the couple I still needed I asked the Shed members present during Smoko if anyone had these sizes at home that they could part with.
Anyway before I knew it I had about 40 more spanners (again mostly stuffed) but managed to put together a more or less complete sets of open ended and ring spanners from 3/16 up to 7/8".
Unfortunately couldn't make up the sets using just one brand.

Mine are mainly a mix of Snail and Sidchrome ,with the odd Dowidat, AMC, Austin and BSA. The BSA is my favourite, probably from a tool kit of some kind, as it shows the classic rifle tripod insignia of the brand.

I was going to de-rust and "blue" all the non-chromed ones all but so far have only done the ones I need for the lathe and mill.

Mine are Gedore - open enders, rings and sockets. Got them in the 70s in my first apprentice tool kit - place I worked at did a lot of Pommy vehicles - used to be a Morris/Wolseley Agency before becoming a Service Station and General workshop

Originally Posted by BobL

...Unfortunately couldn't make up the sets using just one brand...

Me neither, but 8 out of 12 was close - and I'll be keeping an eye out for more Snails.

Originally Posted by BobL

...but managed to put together a more or less complete sets of open ended and ring spanners...

I was wondering if a set of Whitworth ring spanners should be next on the list. I have very few ring spanners, so Trademe will take a beating if I go that way.

Originally Posted by BobL

...Mine are mainly a mix of Snail and Sidchrome...

Sidchrome are quite common here too, but I was trying to get a older (pre-chrome) look like the ones on the left.

Spanners3.jpgFrom a Wadkin RS lathe brochure.

And then I painted them red-oxide - go figure .

Cheers, Vann.

What do you guys do with your spanners there that so many are stuffed? I’ve been buying bits and pieces over the years and the biggest issue I’ve had with spanners is a bit of rust. A few have been bent and some modified to make them fit somewhere specific by grinding an end of and so on, but I don’t think I have any where the actual jaws or rings are damaged.

My OCD likes sets. But that means when I get odds and sods I can make up collections of different makes and hand them on to people who just need something that fits.

My bought-from-new spanners are mostly Gedore (they have a local factory and a lifetime warranty). I have pretty good collection of metric and imperial. I also have a couple of sets of Dowidat imperial, some Saltus (not the knuckle spanner type that the Americans call Saltus spanners, but open box spanners made by Saltus). They are some of the most pleasing to hold spanners I own.

My whitworths are mostly inherited from my Dad, I have no idea where the rest of his spanners went but I’m glad I’ve at least got a decent set from him. His 1/4” drive Stahlwille socket set vanished in a fire (I’d had my eye on those for years) but I did manage to get his 1 1/2” Stahlwille open box spanner (classic Mini ball joints) and use it mostly to loosen the chucks on my lathe - the Nova inserts are 38mm. It’s overkill but I like using it.

I also prefer having dedicated spanners for a machine. If I don’t have a loose one that size to allocate to it, I’ll hunt around till I find one. We have a second hand tool shop in the city who has just about anything you might need. His prices are not cheap, but are reasonable. You don’t pick up bargains there, he knows what his stuff is worth, but you do get value for money.

Now, has anyone seen my 10 mil socket?

Originally Posted by Colin62

What do you guys do with your spanners there that so many are stuffed? I’ve been buying bits and pieces over the years and the biggest issue I’ve had with spanners is a bit of rust.

I apply a Scotchbrite wheel which takes the rust off and leaves reasonable matt finish.

Here you can see a couple that have Scotchbrited the smaller shiny ones.
IMG_3108.jpg

The back one has been blued using H2O2 and Salt blued/blacked

I refer cold fume bluing with HNO3 and HCl over the H2O2 and salt even though it takes much longer to complete.

This knurled brake handle from my Dyno is 20 mm mild steel rod that has been cold fume blued.
Brake-handle.jpg