Labeling My Wrenches

[rgsparber]

How you organize your tools is a personal choice. What works well for one can be a nightmare for another. It is also challenging to look at a new scheme and know its value. You have to live with it for a while. In this spirit, I offer you my new labeling of combination wrenches.

If you are interested, please see

https://rick.sparber.org/LabelingWrenches.pdf



Your comments are welcome. All of us are smarter than any one of us.


Thanks,

Rick

[mklotz]

"Is this a good idea?"

It is in my book; in fact, I've done it myself with a few sets of tools.

I think the problem with it is the fact that Usonians, despite their immersion in the idiocy of fractional nomenclature, have no facility with fraction arithmetic. If they know that they're dealing with a 3/8 inch fastener, they can't fathom how to convert that to sixteenths. Doing it mentally is beyond them.

I was astounded to note the number of mechanically adept members in the local metalworking club couldn't understand how multiplying numerator and denominator of a fraction by the same number didn't change its value. The ignorance became apparent when I was showing them how the inverse of a fraction is a fraction formed by interchanging numerator and denominator.

[Frank S]

What's so hard about fractional sizes? if you want to know what is near to say 27/64" merely add 1 to the 27 then divide both numbers by the largest hole number possible or simply divide by 2 then try again you will come up with 14/32 or 7/16" as the next larger size to find the size smaller just substract 1

While I agree with the way Rick has numbered his wrenches all by 16ths above them if I were under a truck and sent the driver to fetch me a #9 as in needing a 9/16" he might bring me a 9/32" because that would be the only wrench with the #9 stamped on it or he might reach for the metrics on the other set of nails

[Peter Sanders]

It seems to me to be a validation of the METRIC system! :-) No fractions just whole numbers... SOOO much easier :-)

[kb4mdz]

How you organize your tools is a personal choice. What works well for one can be a nightmare for another. It is also challenging to look at a new scheme and know its value. You have to live with it for a while. In this spirit, I offer you my new labeling of combination wrenches.

.......

Your comments are welcome. All of us are smarter than any one of us.


Thanks,

Rick

Only thing missing is the spot for an All-16ths inch wrench. Come to think of it, you should have one for the All-mm wrench, too.

[techcollect]

Rick’s idea is great for those willing to organize and shows his regular willingness to be better and help us and others do so as well. (Like everyone here)
If anyone were to suggest manufacturers stamp tools with the size or range expressed in 1/16^th also, (Such as 1/2 - 8/16 ) you can imagine the horrors, the word spews, the fainting and falling.
Being a newcomer to the forum I am hesitant to jump in the deep end of the pool here.
The problem of course is the legacy of,
“It got us to the Moon didn’t it? (speaking of Imperial measure)
“People aren’t ready for that!” (what has 2020 taught us? Little things we should have been doing all along and weren’t, has bitten us.)
A few observations about the ‘reasons’ we have not completely switched to the metric issue.

1. How long would it take if the US were to convert over to the metric system, to be done with items, systems and their tooling expressed in fractions?
2. Legacy systems like the US infrastructure still use Windows XP. They shudder at the thought of upgrading on every level. I believe the same applies to the metric system; Money.
3. Many people that hold the reins of power still measure their riding horses and polo ponies in ‘hands’.
4. Like so many things, converting has been used as a divider and political issue that hasn’t had all the use wrung out of it yet.
5. My fifth and final listing is this: “it takes two hands to handle a meter, only one to handle a foot.” I was told this by a DuPont engineer years ago. Over time I believe person to person that has merit because of common human thinking. (I’m not saying it’s right, just valid)

I’m not trying to be negative here or stir the flotsam the first time out. As much as we like to help, sometimes talking to others outside our own circles gets other motivated as well.

[DIYer]

Thanks rgsparber! We've added your Wrench Labeling Method to our Storage and Organization category,
as well as to your builder page: rgsparber's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Wrench Labeling Method by rgsparber

tags: storage, hand tools

[rgsparber]

What's so hard about fractional sizes? if you want to know what is near to say 27/64" merely add 1 to the 27 then divide both numbers by the largest hole number possible or simply divide by 2 then try again you will come up with 14/32 or 7/16" as the next larger size to find the size smaller just substract 1

While I agree with the way Rick has numbered his wrenches all by 16ths above them if I were under a truck and sent the driver to fetch me a #9 as in needing a 9/16" he might bring me a 9/32" because that would be the only wrench with the #9 stamped on it or he might reach for the metrics on the other set of nails

If my wrenches were in increments of 1/32", I would number them that way. so #9 would be 9/32. If I needed a 9/16" wrench, I would call out for a #18 .

Rick

[mbshop]

And here I was thinking metric !

[rgsparber]

And here I was thinking metric !

Call it poor man’s metric.

Rick