An Ode to my Ridgid pipe wrench........

[deerefanatic]

An Ode to my Ridgid Pipe wrench
How useful thou provest to be
You wrench all day
And doth not complain
Nor yet has faileth me!

I think I've spent too much time in the boiler shed!! Although, I must say that I have an assortment of pipe wrenches, but I use my 24" Ridgid for basically anything over half inch. That and a 24" Walworth wrench when I need two. The Ridgid is alot heavier than any of my other wrenches, but it's more comfortable and the jaws open and close more smoothly than any of my others....

So, anybody else have something to say about the boilerman's best friend?

 

[Willman]

So, anybody else have something to say about the boilerman’s best friend?

Yes I have a selection of 2' pipes to add some "mechanical advantage to my Pipe wrenches.Mine go from a couple of incher to the 24".

 

[603doug]

My favorite is a 48" aluminum I can strip any thread under 3"

 

[deerefanatic]

Yeesh,,,,,,, 48" wrench is huge!! How would you like to be your grandpappy who had to use a STEEL version of that? :O

Really, for the stuff I've worked on, I've never had a need for anything larger than my 24" as it is..... I found that with the use of TFE paste, I can get any piece of black iron I've worked on (all the way up to 2" stuff) tight enough not to leak with just that wrench......

 

[603doug]

I drill water wells so I work alot with 6" pipe, a steel 48 weights about 4 times as much, I have a couple and they stay in the shop. I have a 24 offset aluminum and it works great on pipe in tight places

 

[Willman]

When taking apart 1 1/4" pipe that was put together many many years ago is when I need the "mechanical advantage"
Will

 

[free75degrees]

I do all my work with a couple nice 6" wrenches.

 

[steam man]

Once you go aluminum you'll never go back..................................

Mike

 

[mtfallsmikey]

My collection, most of them belonged to Dad:

Ridgid steel: 6,"8",12",14",2/24"s,36",48"

Ridgid aluminum: 14" straight/offset,2/24"s, 36" straight/offset

Why?...3rd gen. plumber

 

[deerefanatic]

Yah, they're also the Plumber's best friend too!

Yah, if you work with well casings, you deserve and NEED that 48" wrench.

I've always been skeptical of those aluminum wrenches..... Afraid I'd break em. Oh well, I'll stay with steel, that way I don't get spoiled! Besides, you can build some awesome arm muscles with those steel wrenches!

 

[Boilerguy]

I have a frend that broke his 4 foot steel rigid, of course he was pulling on it with the backhoe.

I also have a 4 foor rigid compound pipe wrench, that is one serious wrench, I almost never use it but it goes out on loan 2 times a year and alwayse comes back with a case of beer, its turned out to be a good deal

 

[deerefanatic]

Well, it just goes to show that a 4ft pipe wrench ISNT indestructable! With a backhoe! Good grief..............

The question remains, did he get apart what he was trying to get apart?

 

[penfrydd]

Well...if he didn't get it apart with the wrench...he could always just rip out the whole pipe with the backhoe and start over.

Once in a while, a student helper will think he's helping me "clean" the shop. They'll throw away my 2 and 3 ft "persuader" pipes and, even worse, my various blocks of wood that I always have around. Experience will teach them...

 

[603doug]

Do not ever use a cheater on aluminum, it does not have any memory and you will not either. On the Big Dig in Boston we had an idiot who use a 6' cheater on a 36" aluminum and when it broke it was amazing how far he flew. After we check to make sure he was not dead we almost wet our pants laughing (we are kind of a sick group but they have not caught us yet)

 

[pybyr]

Do not ever use a cheater on aluminum, it does not have any memory and you will not either. On the Big Dig in Boston we had an idiot who use a 6' cheater on a 36" aluminum and when it broke it was amazing how far he flew. After we check to make sure he was not dead we almost wet our pants laughing (we are kind of a sick group but they have not caught us yet)

yeah, I tend to prefer materials and technologies that fail slowly and gradually, not catastrophically.

my best pipe wrench is a 28" iron/ steel of some long-gone make that belonged to my grandfather, and I have no idea how or why he got it or where from;

he was an exterminator, not a plumber

it looked old rusty and ragged when I inherited it, 'til I threw it in a bucket of kerosene to soak and then took it apart and cleaned it up with 0000 steel wool

it's way "leaner" in build and weight than a Ridgid, but it's built out of some alloy that defies destruction, even when I have used it for tasks bigger than it was ever reasonably intended for

 

[deerefanatic]

Good deal. Most of my wrenches belonged to my Grandpa........

My other 24" (a Walworth) had the jaw pivot cage broken at some point. Somebody brazed it back together while still managing to allow that piece to pivot. Amazing! And it's held for who knows how many years!