Ford Wrench Question

[Strongman79]

Ive got this wrench with a little extra notch out on the open end. These wrenches are common enough but Ive never seen another one with this. Ive put another with it to compare. Any ideas on what or why? Thanks

[Donny B.]

I posted a wrench with a notch like that on the old forum. The general opinion of those who responded seemed to be that someone had probably ground it out to a larger size. If so, they had done a pretty good job of it.

[lzenglish]

I have never seen one like it, what size is it now? After I enlarged your photo to 400%,  I believe this wrench was infact opened up. I believe it had to be done in a shop with a milling machine at the very least, as the work looks too good to be free hand. IMO

Wayne

[BRwrench]

I have seen quite a few of those old Ford wrenches opened up like that, with those wrenches being so plentyful nobody thought twice about modifying them to fit their need.

[rusty]

Ditto, repurposed wrench. If you read the old literature, there are lots of articles on how to salvage your worn out wrench by grinding it to a bigger size.

>I believe it had to be done in a shop with a milling machine

Don't underestimate what can be done with a slow grinding wheel, a jig, and lots of patience. For that matter, I've seen amazing blacksmith work done primarily with a file, stuff you would swear came off some machine..

There were a lot of poor farmers and mechanics  with more time than money...

[bird]

Hi folks,
   I've been perplexed by the exact same "outline/ silhouette" of the internal wrench shape portrayed above. It does seem that someone would modify a wrench to fit their "specs". But, I've found over 10 wrenches spanning different time periods who all have that common "odd" look to them.... modified or not.
  Of course, the challenge is for me to find each of these wrenches I've "run across" which must all be on this land somewhere!  It's my belief that there was a certain "style" of wrench that accounted for the "notch." But, as with any new "feature" of a wrench, I would have assumed to find literature about the latest "style of wrench---- notch and all!" Advertisement is the key to much of history.
      Anyhow, I need to occupy my time with the goal of finding those "odd shaped" wrenches.  I'll work on that. I'm still minus one hand right now-- due to surgery. But, I think this "style" of wrench could be incredibly important in the history of wrenches.
   cheers, bird

I posted a wrench with a notch like that on the old forum. The general opinion of those who responded seemed to be that someone had probably ground it out to a larger size. If so, they had done a pretty good job of it.