Show me the Cool Tools that you own but rarely use.

[JHCC]

I had a pair of shears like those once, another thing lost when my family disintegrated. The things we leave behind....

[Daswulf]

On June 18, 2017 at 11:11 PM, Glenn said:

Found this chain wrench at the junk yard and grabbed it, thinking it would come in handy. Just need to straighten the handle a bit and then find a 10 inch diameter object to wrap it around. 

 

Here is its brother. Part of the chain is missing.  It has been waiting around for either a use or repurposing. 

 

[Farmall]

Back in the '70s, I had to use a 72-inch chain wrench on some 6-inch screw coupled water pipe.  Also used a 60-inch standard pipe wrench.  Both were quite a handful.....

[Daswulf]

I've used a 6' pipe on a breaker bar for lugnuts before. A few times I had to jump on and add my weight to it. So much for torque specs used at tire centers. I think sometimes they grab the biggest air impact driver they can and lay on it. Rust dosnt help either. 

[JHCC]

5 hours ago, Daswulf said:

Here is its brother. Part of the chain is missing.  It has been waiting around for either a use or repurposing. 

I'm seeing hummingbird beak....

[Daswulf]

 that'd be one big hummingbird. I was seeing an old ww1 style tank from the front part that the chain connects. 

[Jasent]

I'm not 100% sure but I believe this is a ship maul. It's about 8lbs. Never have used it yet

[ThomasPowers]

Chain wrench is good for removing valve stems from Welding gas tanks: put the stem in the big postvise and turn the tank with the wrench  or hold the tank with the wrench on the floor and use a large regular adjustable wrench on the valve stems

[rockstar.esq]

Chain wrenches are also great for large diameter threaded pipe because they'll "ratchet" without taking the tool off the work.  If it's a good design, some will even switch to "reverse" without taking the chain off.

Long ago I was running 4" rigid conduit in a prison basement with scalding hot steam lines running all over the place.  More than once, there was only one place on the length of pipe where you could swing a 50-60 degree arc to thread the pipe together.  Being 10' or so away from the fitting getting threaded, it was pretty easy to cross-thread the fitting so it took quite a bit of fiddling to get them started.

If the chain's tight and well made, you can often tip the tool sideways so the loose end can pass over the top of a horizontal pipe.  With a quick twist of the wrist, the chain falls to where you can catch it in the prongs.  I got to where I could reliably take the tool on and off one handed.  It's not as fast as an adjustable pipe wrench, but it's lighter and it stores in a smaller tool kit.  I wouldn't want it for high torque operations because the handles tend to be sort relative to the diameter's they'll grab.

That being said, it's super handy when you need to twist conduit bodies or oddly shaped hubs in a confined space.

 

[Lou L]

Thanks for all the ideas guys!  I was on a cruise to Bermuda (not a cruise type of guy..) and have been digital free and so I couldn't check IFI.  The main problem I have with mounting that monster is that, when the lever arms are manipulated, the cutting head of the bolt cutter swivels.  It only stays centered in one place if you move both arms equally.  The arcing of that head will make accuracy near impossible.  

 

Notownkid, I received those cutters from my cousin who is a fireman.  They were decommissioned by his fire department.

 

Lou