My growing set of Williams Obstruction wrenches

[bonneyman]

Been on the hunt for these Superrenches for about a month, and so far have snagged these 5. I now have all the sizes I need, but will keep an eye open for any of the intermediate sizes. These 60+ year old wrenches are a joy!

[Stoney]

Bonneyman what all fits in the term obstruction wrench?  I've seen wrenches with only one opening turned , both turned or the shank bent.  Are all these all called obstruction wrenches?

[bonneyman]

Most open ends (on combos or DOE's) are offset at 15 deg.

Angle wrenches are DOE's, shorter for the opening size, and typically have one end offset at 15 deg and the other at 60. That way, you can flip the wrench 3 ways and get a 90 degree turn (60+15+15). Snap-On angle wrenches are 30 and 60.

Starter wrenches - I've heard them called half-moon wrenches - are double box ends curved for getting around things.

For me, an obstruction wrench is different from all these. It has ends bent at 75 deg (or 85 deg like these Williams) for turning fasteners hidden behind obstructions. On some of the older A/C units I work on, you have to remove a brass cap to hook your gauges up to the port. The access port is  soft soldered into the copper line, so you have to back it up when removing the cap so you don't twist the valve off. Many times these access valves are close to the running fan blade. The obstruction wrenches let me get in there and remove the caps with a decent margin of safety from losing a finger in the fan.

This is how I describe the different wrenches.

[rusty]

The 15 / 60 degree wrenches were introduced as 'electrical wrenches'.
The 90 / 90 wrenches are a little more vague, the small sizes were called ignition wrenches by some, and obstruction wrenches by others, and sometimes both depending on size...

In a sense they are all obstruction wrenches, but that kind lumps quite a lot of wrench variations together, in theory , textile wrenches fit in there also, since they were designed to fit past things (obstructions) in a loom frame....but we don't generally call them that....

[Stoney]

What then do you call wrenches that have bends in the shank of the wrench to clear obstructions?  What would you call the N.C.&St.L wrench 2nd from the top in my post on 4 more RxR wrenches this board?

[Jim C.]

Really a great looking set of wrenches.  You said you've been on the hunt for a month.  Where do you find these nice wrenches?  Do you buy from other collectors, online auctions, garage sales?  How do you put together a 60 year old set of wrenches in one month?  I think they're great.  I hope you'll post more when you find them.

Jim C. 

[bonneyman]

That looks like an angle wrench to me. Nice and long, too. Good for some real torque!
As far as where do I find my wrenches, it's alot of different venues. When I get more than two of a style, I try to complete the set. So all of my contacts gets buzzed with the latest "needs". Sometimes things fall into place fairly quick - other times (like for that last Bonney wrench) it takes years.

[bonneyman]

Well, a trio of obstruction wrenches showed up in my mailbox today. I realized I hadn't posted any pics in a long while, but I have been accumulating more here and there.
Here a family portrait of the set with the new additions. Have a total of 27.

[HeelSpur]

Nice collection, that's one tool that I seldom come across.

[bonneyman]

Nice collection, that's one tool that I seldom come across.

I never knew they existed until 3 years ago, and never thought I'd use them. But they fit into places other wrenches won't, and just the old rare factor make them a need in my book. Since I'm starting to get duplicates, I may take the more worn/spread ones and hone them out to the next larger metric size. 6 or 7 at most. then I'd have a unique set of metric DOEs for the newer hybrid A/C's