Monkey Wrench

[Charles Spencer]

I got this in the mail today:



It's a genuine Coes monkey wrench from Worcester, Massachusetts, my home town. Also the hometown of the monkey wrench. See this from Wikipedia:

"In 1840, Worcester, Massachusetts knife manufacturer Loring Coes invented a screw-based coach wrench design in which the jaw width was set with a spinning ring fixed under the sliding lower jaw, above the handle. This was patented in 1841 and the tools were advertised and sold in the United States as monkey wrenches, a term which was already in use for the English handle-set coach wrenches.[2] For the next eighty-seven years a very wide and popular range of monkey wrenches was manufactured by Coes family partnerships, licensees and companies, which filed further wrench patents throughout the nineteenth century. Some Coes wrenches could be bought with wooden knife handles, harking back to the company's early knife making business. In 1909 the Coes Wrench Company advertised a six-foot-long "key" wrench, shaped like a monkey wrench, for use on railroads.[3][4] The Coes wrench designs were acquired by longtime toolmaker Bemis & Call of Springfield, Massachusetts in 1928. After 1939 its successor companies manufactured monkey wrenches from Coes designs until the mid-1960s, yielding a production run of over 120 years."

Coes closed in 1991. It's kind of a bitter sweet memento of what we've lost in what was once quite an industrial power house for a city of its size.

 

[T Bredehoft]

Is there a patent date on your wrench? It was probably made within 3 1/2 years of that date.

 

[A618fan2]

Neat post - thanks. I bought one at a flea market recently to handle the occasional large nut - it'll handle up to 2 1/2" so though I won't need it often, when I do need it, I'll really appreciate it.

 

[Charles Spencer]

Is there a patent date on your wrench? It was probably made within 3 1/2 years of that date.

No patent date and I examined it carefully.

 

[george wilson]

When I was first at Williamsburg,I went to the purchasing dept. for some reason. There was an old guy there who pulled out a monkey wrench and asked me what it was. I replied correctly,but the old guy obviously thought he was being very tricky !

 

[RJSakowski]

Here are several wrenches that I have collected over the years. The two on the left are what I know as monkey wrenches. The large center wrench is a J. H. Williams & Co. The combination pipe/monkey wrench is a Bemis & Call.

I had derusted them with Evapo-Rust last winter but they have picked up another light coating of rust since so a second treatment is due, this time followed by aprotective coating.

Bob

 

[John Hasler]

Here are several wrenches that I have collected over the years. The two on the left are what I know as monkey wrenches. The large center wrench is a J. H. Williams & Co. The combination pipe/monkey wrench is a Bemis & Call.

I had derusted them with Evapo-Rust last winter but they have picked up another light coating of rust since so a second treatment is due, this time followed by aprotective coating.

Bob
View attachment 111026

I like phosphoric acid for derusting that sort of tool. Gives it a nice grey patina and adds rust resistance, especially when you wipe it down with boiled linseed oil (hang it in the sun to polymerize the oil).

 

[RJSakowski]

I like phosphoric acid for derusting that sort of tool. Gives it a nice grey patina and adds rust resistance, especially when you wipe it down with boiled linseed oil (hang it in the sun to polymerize the oil).

This was a first time using the Evapo-Rust and I was just experimenting. I am somewhat surprised with the amount of rust built up over the summer given that the solution is a non-corrosive. Previously, I have used muriatic acid for derusting and expected the rather rapid rerusting. In that case, I heat the piece gently to completely dry and oil. For a more permanent protection, I would heat to the point of running color and then oil or spray with a clear acrylic. I used that approach on some of the antique hardware in our home and it looks like new after a dozen years of use. I have used the linseed oil treatment in the past as well on some of the blacksmithing projects that I have worked on. I haven't tried the phosphoric acid, mostly because I haven't found a source for it.

Bob

 

[John Hasler]

I buy milkstone remover at the farm store. It's phosphoric acid with a bit of surfactant added (which helps the process). I dilute it about 5:1 and soak the metal overnight. If you heat the solution to near boiling it reportedly only takes a few minutes but I haven't tried that. I then rinse the part but don't wipe it and let it air dry. I dilute the linseed oil 2:1 with acetone and wipe it on, removing the excess. The oil is absorbed by the porous phosphate layer. The UV in sunlight polymerizes the oil so it isn't sticky.

Last spring I treated some parts that are now embedded in wet wood in an unheated structure out in the woods up North. Next July I'll see how they held up. The untreated steel parts they replaced rusted through in about five years.

 

[george wilson]

The 2 on the left are almost light enough to be bicycle wrenches. The longest one is a monkey wrench.