Are you one of the millions of people who love to DIY around the house, on the car or as a hobby? Are you always looking for the right tool to make the job easier? Most DIYers have boxes of tools, attachments and assorted gadgets -- many that we may not even remember what they are for anymore.
But let me fill you in on one of the handiest tools I have come across in some time: The Black and Decker Ready Wrench, which is the must-have Do It Yourself tool.
See my Black and Decker Ready Wrench review below.
Tools are only good if they are useful and so many tools are only good for one thing.
Take an oil filter wrench for example.
Great tool, but it is only handy for removing and installing your oil filter.
The rest of the time it hangs on the peg board or is stored away in your toolbox.
As a person who loves working on cars, motorcycles, bicycles, my house and a huge assortment of other DIY projects, I am constantly using a socket set and have a couple of very nice ones.
The problem I encounter with socket sets is that I usually need two or three sockets per job, so I need to keep track of each socket and am constantly switching them on and off the ratchet.
Even though I try not to, I usually leave one on the ground and lose it.
I spend 10 minutes searching and then go back to the job at hand when it is found.
This is irritating and a time-waster.
When I came across the Black and Decker Ready Wrench, I was a bit sceptical, but I took the plunge and got the MSW100 version.
The Ready Wrench is a solid metal bar about 9.
5 inches long and on each end there are 4 different socket heads.
So you have 8 various socket sizes at your disposal.
The heads are made so that they correspond to the most popular 8 metric sizes and 8 SAE sizes.
Brilliant! I now have 16 of the most popular sockets on one tool, which will serve most of my major DIY needs.
But would it do the job? I have used the Ready Wrench on my car, doing minor work and repairs and also on several building projects.
Since the sockets are deep, I am able to use it everywhere.
The heads rotate, so it is simple to get to the various nuts and bolts.
With a padded handle, it is comfortable and not very heavy.
It weighs 1.
3 lbs, which I find feels good and solid.
Also, the socket heads are labelled very clearly, so it is easy to find the right size.
After several months of using this tool, I got another version of the Ready Wrench, which is the RRW100.
Both wrenches are set up in the same way, except this version is a ratcheting wrench, so it is a bit faster to use.
It is also simple to switch ratchet directions.
I wanted to find something wrong with these tools for my review, but I am really happy with them and how they function.
The only small flaw may be the fact that each socket fits both an SAE size and metric size, so there can be some looseness at times.
It has never been a problem for me, but I have read reviews where some people found this an issue.
If you place your socket properly on the nut or bolt, it works great.
For me, the big selling point is that I can carry this around instead of my 2 sockets sets and still get 90% of my needs met.
This is handy to have in your car as an emergency tool and is better than an adjustable wrench.