email (option): ahum@quicknet.nl

So there you go with only $ 3,000,000 worth of machines and 200 man hours + $ 150 worth of new materials you can remanufacture a 19th century tool.
Or with about 20 hours of careful machining you could fix an old one

email (option): bsansw1@tpg.com.au

When I did my toolmakers apprenticeship if you were found to have an adjustable spanner in your toolbox it was a hanging offence...

They were considered to be a quick way to f**k up most fasteners they came into contact with and were only deemed acceptable as a last resort in a situation where the correct tools weren't available...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

i have to be honest i love the king dick someone kindly gave me after their parents died. It is a lovely tool and while i take your point, there doesn't seem to be the wiggle room you get with other adjustable spanners that can cause damage, plus it is v convenient for some of the larger nuts on my WD M20. all best everyone who makes this website terrific, peter

King Dick did indeed apparently pinch the original design of the American Charles Billings but the design that they have copied here is not the 1879 original. It has the closed 'U' at the bottom of the slot which was introduced with the June 1931 design registration by Abingdon works - that aspect would make it suitable for a WD toolkit but he has also taken the longer, thinner adjusting nut that came in during 1946 so he has copied a post-war tool.

U.K. design registration was for a period of five years and could be exended twice for a further five. This meant that every 15 years, they had to develop a further 'novelty' which could allow it to registered and protected once more.

US$ 40 is quite a lot for a tool that can be found in the U.K. for £5 - £10 in good condition. The earlier, corrrect for WD shapes are a little harder to find in a decent state. They can also be found marked 'Abingdon' and 'Shelley' - All were linked via the Mansell family.

As Ian says, dreadful tools for anything other than a toolroll, although I find the broad jaws on my Girder minor quite handy for some B.A. fasteners.

I always carry a small King Dick adjustable in my jacket pocket. Always handy whilst on a ride saves dragging out a tool kit if for instance the headlamp bolts come loose.

I'm stunned that someone has gone to so much trouble to make one of these. The main problem with them is you can't get them into most places on a bike. As Ian said the other type of adjustable is the easiest way to round off a nut as the jaws flex too much. But last Christmas my son said I've got to get you these adjustable spanners, they're brilliant. I thought ok then a good one might be handy. I must admit they are fantastic, they don't flex and grip the nut firmly. I'm now using them all the time as it fits the nut better than the correct spanner and holds the nut in awkward places. I've just put it on my vice handle to show you, it's smooth so nothing to hold it on but the grip, just brilliant.

email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk

Metric adjustable...?..Does that mean another will be needed for Imperial fasteners?...:laughing: ...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Case hardening compound is I suppose more convenient than the old bucket of feathers.:wink:

email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk

Horror
Is there a clever feature to those spanners that I can't see or are they just very good quality?

Just good quality. No sloppy play in the sliding jaw and it doesn't flex when using so it doesn't slip off the nut and damage it.

email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk

They were putting these in Landrover tool rolls as lete as the middle 1980s

A pointless exercise surely? dozens on ebay all the time, just as many in auto jumbles and virtually any boot sale will give up one or two.

I'll only buy WD marked ones to sell on.
The best adjustable spanner, was the Lucas girder style.Far better than a king dick [or a queen one in these days of gender sensitivity]

bahco adjustables are a higher quality, they use better steel and better machining than the cheap chinese ones, the modern bahco though heading the game today are still lower quality than the older bahco adjustables which will still fetch £30 for the 8 inch spanner after 20+ years.

the old fashioned adjustables made by a number of manufacturers have the advantage of a spring under the adjustment knob which takes up the slack, modern cheap ones have poor machining and also nothing to take up the slack in the adjuster, thus they can be the most dreadful of things, a good quality old adjustable of the small 4 to 6 inch variety made before the war can be had for around a pound or fifty pence at a car boot sale, look for a good pair of jaws and that it hasnt been overly abused in its use, the spring is in place and that when closed the jaws meet nicely without undue amounts of light visible through them when they are viewed sideways, a most useful tool if you find a good one.
the wartime finish marked tools are produced during the war for various uses and the machining and steel quality can be lower than expected, grease packed unused ones still turn up and may require deburring and a little fettling to use, the steel is also variable in quality, the prewar adjustables are usually a better quality or consistent quality of steel and finish. a little oil on the thread and the sliding parts and you have a good tool for general use where carrying many spanners is uneconomical, such as a toolbox on a motorcycle.

some people have the money and facilities to make up odd items for no reason other than a challenge and a bit of fun, it is uneconomical to reproduce these spanners, though as a small technical and fun project i can see the attraction of it for the person who made the video.

just to add, if anyone wants to go mad and pays the grand sum of ten pounds for a single spanner, i can request them by the box full to be dispatched on receival of funds! they are a common find.