French adjustable spanner restoration

I bought today an old adjustable wrench. I want to see if it can be restored. But I can't figure out how to disassemble the part from the right. The top part is rotating and I don't see nothing inside that holds it. Could it be just pressed somehow in the handle?

Needs a damn good clean up first IMO

I used to use vinegar with really grotty old stuff but you must check every 6-12 hours and give it a good scrub to avoid overdoing it because vinegar is mildly corrosive

Other guys in here will have more experience than me at resurrecting old tooling, the metal on that looks pretty old and knackered

Once it's cleaned up you can get a better look at it

Quite likely the end of the handle is simply swaged into a groove or over a ridge on the inner part. Its an inexpensive tool and no great strength needed there.

Clive

I guess the handle will have a threaded portion so that when rotated it will draw the part on the left in.

Russell

Here's one I found locally (in France):

Edited By Russell Eberhardt on 28/05/2023 14:16:11

O.K. Russell … Someone has to ask, so it might as well be me !

What is the idea behind having two sets of jaws ?

My first guess was that it’s a joke [i.e. one for use on left-hand threads, and t’other for right-hand]

Then I realised it could be useful to put a similar-size nut in the ‘unused’ set … to keep the clamping parallel.

Or does it in fact allow the spanner to serve another purpose ?

MichaelG.

This was a common type of adjustable wrench in Romania. They are called "French wrench" here. But actually it was made in Romania. There were 3 sizes, this one is the middle one. When working fine it is my favorite wrench. They feel very solid and you can use it also as a mini vise or to clamp things.

When I was a child I used it to crack nuts. Unlike a pair of pliers, the nuts didn't crush too much.

I never used vinegar to remove rust. I think I'll give it a try. Does it matter if it has a lot of grease inside?

This is how the three variants looks like. The last one to the right is a different model.

Edited By Sonic Escape on 28/05/2023 15:01:48

Edited By Sonic Escape on 28/05/2023 15:04:28

So this means that it can't be disassembled without destroying it?

Try **LINK**

You can degrease with some diesel before going after the rust

Try and keep it off your hands/clothes or you'll stink of it, use rubber gloves/overalls

You do have to remove the grease. What is grease often used for? Keeping water off metal.
Vinegar is water based so any greasy bit won't be touched by the vinegar which might not need it of course but if the grease has smeared onto the rusty bits then it can't do its job.

Youtube is bound to have various techniques for degreasing and derusting old kit

A couple of hours squirreling about on youtube can save you a lot of effort later on

I couldn't resist not to turn it a little

I wasn't sure how thick is the wall so I didn't cut too deep. Then I painted it with rust converter:

But it didn't turned very black because there wasn't enough rust left:

I have always wondered that. I have no idea!

Russell

Thanks, Russell … If I ever find an explanation I must remember to post it here.

MichaelG.

.

Meanwhile: This should be of interest

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 30/05/2023 09:02:30

As pointed out these are very basic wrenches, so the idea is just to screw one end in and out until one side of the jaws or the other fits the nut or faces you want to wrench on.

The two jaws allows a half pitch distance to be achieved so you can get close enough to the faces distance. its not meant to be a precision wrench and used to be more oftern used on agricultural machinery with square nuts rather than modern hexagon types.

Always expect to be corrected on this but was my understanding on these from a long time ago.

French ! That'd be metric then . No use to me and my Drummond.

Yes, they have metric screw

About the price, this things were never cheap. Even now a new model can cost up to 50 euro for the large variant. Meanwhile I'm trying to fix the screw. It is not straight.

I'm slowly turning the vise since morning. At least when I'm remembering. I'm afraid to don't break the part if I bend it to quickly. I don't know what kind of cast iron was used.

When questioning the name 'French wrench' made in Romania, you might consider how many 'Birmingham Screwdivers' were made in Warrington.

And I promise that the bit you are straightening is not cast iron. In use it is put under tension, and CI is not strong in tension.

Cheers, Tim

Edited By Tim Stevens on 31/05/2023 11:33:18