Largest Pipe Wrench I've Ever Seen [Restoration]
It's 1896, you and your pipe-loving home boys are out on the town and come across a 18in diameter pipe that is leaking. Luckily, you always bring your 140lb wrench with you everywhere, so you get to work. Within a matter of hours, you can lift the wrench up to the pipe and wrap the chain around to begin tightening. You and the boys all hang off the end of the wrench, feet dangling in the air, in order to get enough force to move this pipe. Unfortunately, it was a left-handed thread and you just unscrewed more, leading to the beginning of a mass flood even that will forever change life on this planet. Great job guys!
I still don't understand how many people are needed to use this wrench. I have never seen a wrench so large that one person cannot operate it. This was made by the J.H. Williams & Co. and is the size No. 16. Based on the design and colour, I estimate this wrench to be from around the 1910s.
This wrench looked to be completely unused when it arrived to me from @PJGalati
I wanted to return it back to original without much material alteration, but if I did have to make more intense alterations, I actually had a full backup wrench to enjoy!
You can view one of the original patents here: patents.google.com/patent/US5...
Wrenches, screwdrivers, and socket drivers are now for sale at www.handtoolrescue.com
Help secure more tools for future videos (if you want):
/ handtoolrescue
Instagram:
/ handtoolrescue
Facebook Group - Share your restorations
/ handtoolrescue
/ handtoolrescue
Reddit - Share your restorations
/ handtoolrescue
Podcast (with @jimmydiresta and Andrew Alexander) - anchor.fm/fitzall
I can't believe that crazy patent multitool you made actually fit that massive bolt! lol. The scale megalithic. I'm dying to know where it ended up in the shop and I'm glad I was able to get it to you.
Thank you so much for sending this over. I can finally give all these big pipes the gawk gawk 3000 with the twister wizard 7000.
@@HandToolRescue what are you going to do with a wrench that big
The guy that invented that multitool doesn’t look so stupid now does he? 😉😂
@@HandToolRescue 🤨
Im thinking he made that tool specifically for this job. It can't be a coincidence can it?
2 things I love about HTR: 1. He maintains the character of the tools he restores 2. He's not afraid to ride a giant pipe wrench like a witch's broom
I was joking with my old lady where the chain might slide through and what damage to sensitive body parts could it cause
im not sure he meant that to look like a witches broom. 🤔
@@afg122602 I was literally here to say the same thing. but ok. sure. it's a family show.
Restortion videos are fake
@@afg122602 that's fair
My daughter and I LOVE what you do. We watch your videos as part of our nightly story time before bed. She loved the music and presentation of the wrench and she said that she likes how you fix the tools so they can be useful again and how it's satisfying to watch and she loves your funny channel. We both laughed pretty hard. Thanks for your part in helping me create good memories with her. P.s. She also appreciated that you showed us how it worked.
Thats awesome. one day i want that experience too
@@mystupidfacebook I'm incredibly grateful for her, and I try to live so that I never take it for granted. I hope for the same for you!
I am a retired plumber I used them for running 6” and 8” water and fire mains, these chain wrenches was normal then.
Hello Mr HTR. Nice job on the huge wrench. Liked that you kept the original finish on the bar. Even in train repairs we didn’t use wrenches that big. Can’t imagine working that thing all day. There was only chain vises, no chain wrenches in our shop. One little problem: NEVER use your finger to check alignment. Use a smooth tapered rod or drift, or visually for that task. One little bump, and the heavy steel piece will cut off the finger instantly. Glad you are having fun in the shop. Btw, if you are ever in a blacksmith / steelworker display, make sure you use that wrench on some small delicate job. It will scare the heck out of everyone.
This must be what the last guy used to fit the oil filter, the one that only needs to be "hand tight", to my car. 🤔
I'll bet the seal was stuck on like glue?
@@ScumClassWorks Stuck like glue? I'd venture a guess that if the filter installer used that wrench, it would be sealed on a molecular level. 😄
@@rogermccaslin5963 friction welded!
Lol 😆
Standard equipment at jiffy lube
If the theme of the previous tool being used in the next video is carrying on, I am looking very much forward to watching you restore an oil rig next time!
SpaceX called, they want to know when you can get that wrench to the shipyard that is working on Phobos and Demos.... (the oil rigs turned launch/landing pads)
@@arcticelectricthe ones that they decided awhile Ago they weren’t actually Going to use?
Decades ago I had two of those chain wrenches back when I used to work. Thankfully I have been retired since 2008. This is the first time I have thought of those wrenches since I did retire. I used to use them to split 6 to 12 inch well casings. I would often have to use cheaters even on that size wrench. Mine were slightly smaller about 5 ft.
I think I speak for all of us when I applaud your bare-fingered bravery handling that chain. Sir, we solute you.
This has to be the first time using the huge version of your wrench that you were surprised to need a second one!
This episode reminds me of all the huge oversized tools needed for working on tanks. And not just because the chain looks like a length of broken track.
@@danielf3623 Working on big things is like recovery. You're going to need something twice as big to unstick it.
Fire Sprinkler fitter here. Yeah. You do need a second one as a "Hold back" We only used them nowadays to remove fittings 4" or bigger. The men that originally installed them were some tough sonofabitches. No one made it out without back and shoulder issues. With the march of technology life is much better for the boys. But jobsites that used to have 20+ guys now only have 2 or 3. Everything has it's good and bad.
@@waltkosch I've not seen 4 inch fittings whenever I'm in buildings for fire alarm activations. Are they the pipes in the ceiling or are there bigger sprinklers in industrial settings.
@@taliakuznetsova7092 Supply mains in the ceilings and Standpipe typically in stairwells.
Bah you youths today. Back in the day everyone on the rig kept one of these in our backpockets. You never knew when the old 18incher would start weeping and you'd have to crank her down with another 10K of torque. Having to use a crane JUST to lift it, tsk tsk. Betcha don't'even have the grip strength to crimp the end of a 9inch galvenized pipe by hand alone.
My grandfather's grandfather taught me. And I clean with such pipe wrenches between my teeth😁
You Only kept one on ya huh? you must have soft hands brother…😂
Pants were stronger back then too.
I fell 38 storeys with one of these big suckers in my back pocket once. Hurt so bad I almost had to take a smoke break--didn't, though. KIDS TODAY, I TELL YA.
@@HANKTHEDANKEST you were lucky. In my day, we'd have t'lick th'entire foundry clean before breakfast and swim through molten steel to even be given a look at a wrench like that.
Definitely one of your more "simple" projects but just the sheer.. I don't have a word. Sheer.. "Monolithic girth", this absolute unit of a pipe wrench was so mesmerizing
Yes!!!! When you busted out the ‘everything’ wrench I cheered out loud in my shop.
That wrench screams for a felt lined presentation case!
That's an odd way of asking him to make a casket
You mean...a felt lined trailer?
Yeah right it's screaming let me get back on the rig floor
I think he should build a matching micrometer!
the eyelet on the end gives you a clue to how it was used! you'd get it set on the pipe with 3-4 people (likely in a pit), then use a rope team, mule, or horse to yank on it through a couple stages of snatch blocks.
Oh, and I thought that eye was for a safety lanyard in case it was dropped from a height.
@@squelchstuff seems more logical it would be for a chain to keep in from falling out of your pocket really
You said snatch blocks.
3or 4 people try only two people the rig runner and helper that about it a rope and a hydraulic cat head been pulling and installing pumps for over 20 years now I was lucky if I got a second helper mybe if it 500+ feet deep then a extra guy is usually used it like ground hogs day after the first two sticks lol💧👍✌️👌🍻💪💯
@@CountryDick that's what they call it it's basically a cable that connects to a truck with a pulley hook that's call a snatch block and you connect a set of clamps to 3 pipe to lift as one off a truck I pull water pump for a living hair it every day 👍✌️👌👌💯💪💧
Really impressed you did not loose the multitude of small parts on this restoration😆
That's one of the harder parts of restoration projects, and he did a great job!
*_The restored version looks absolutely splendid! I appreciate your hard work on restoring these items!_*
the intro never fails to make me smile from ear to ear
Same.
Also same, though I do miss the socially distant garbage on the floor.
Watching someone who grins from ear to ear often can be contagious.
Same here , it makes me LOL
Anyone who has ever worked on an oil rig are more than familiar with these wrenches. Chain Tongs as I knew them are still extensively used to this day, I've seen two and three sets joined together.
Yup. That's exactly what I was reminded of.
I haven't worked rigs but I've seen these around Texas my home state enough to know they're used for oil
Came to say the same, too many hours spinning up/starting bha on pipe racks and bottom of catwalk
Yes, and this is still a monster size. Likely built specifically for working with casing.
I used to work offshore and in the petro-chemical field and we used these often.
I normally hate ppls intros and try to skip them. This guy's intro is so good I love it every time I see it. So funny
Only intros I rewind and watch again to be sure I didn’t miss a good joke!
By far the best restoration channel on KZhead, thanks for the great content.
From a family of Roughnecks. They're used on Oil Rigs all the time. Gotta have a big wrench to tighten and loosen drill stems.
Was looking for a comment on Oil Rig wrench It's no matter how large the wrench is if it's moved by a crane
When giants roamed the land....for a few years when I was much younger I lived on the old oil fields of Western Pennsylvania surrounded by the National Forest. The oil fields had pretty much played out (this prior to the current development with fracking that has brought those fields back into production). Wrenches and other gigantic hand tools were left pretty much where they were last used decades before. As kids we'd occasionally see if we could lift them and in doing so were amazed realizing that those who regularly used them back in our grandfather's times must have been giants and stories of how it was back then never seemed like exaggerations to us.
Wait wasn’t that a toothpick with a chain for a lanyard?
They weren't exaggerated...they were outright lies. You think ONE person operated that wrench??
While there were a few giants, statistically there always are with a large enough population, the average man was shorter than what we are today. Quality of food mostly is what has made us taller. But that doesn't automatically translate to stronger. I wouldn't be the least surprised if the average man was stronger 60 to 100 years back. Now as to giant's I remember my father telling a story from his childhood. Aman on the next farm over was the classical giant. A head or more taller than everyone else and strong, as always in tall tales. He had loaded his truck way over the weight limit with wheat package in sacks of about 120 pounds. Again this is a tale my father told me and I have a feeling those sacks got heavier every time it git told. Anyway it was not just over weight but loaded so high the load towered over the truck, and part of the load took the chance to jump off when he hit a pot hole. Anyway he had backed up and was loading everything back up when the local cop rolled up asking if he needed any help. Technically he was in violation by overloading but I can't really see why the cop would be all that bothered, for the storys sake it's assumed that was a risk. So when the cop says that it looks like a heavy load the guy grunts something about how these sacks of hay were so light they tended to get thrown off. Takes a sack in one hand and throws it a bit over seven feet up on top of the load. While I do think the farmer was a big and strong man, I doubt he was as big and strong as my father told the story. I'd put it right up with the 120 pund bags of grain he lugged up the stairs of the barn when he was 12. These to tended to get heavier and heavier the more he told the story, and I can swear that the first time he told it to me he was 14, so he grew younger as well. Now I did shock my sister when I helped her transport some barrels of feed to her stable. Having no idea of how to do this I put my arms around a 240 pound barrel, lifted it and waddled slowly and clumsily into the stable. Only to be passed by my sister who just tilted hers and rolled it on the rim over to where she wanted it... Lifting that barrel was probably the most I've ever lifted, and I couldn't have carried another one that far. Work smarter, not harder! The next two barrels were a lot easier to handleing it her way.
Hydraulic fracturing in wells isn't new. It's been used since the 1940's.
I have an old whitworth tap and die which has handles extending two feet each side of the die holder. The holder has inserts for different sizes.Victorian engineering was industrial to say the least.
I work in natural gas transmission in WV, and some of our oldest lines in service were completed in the VERY early 1900s, 1905 for example on one 10" line. At the time 10" was huge diameter in our area, and the marks can be seen from the jaws of those wrenches on the pipe to this day!
If I am sad, I watch HTR videos. The intro alone lifts my spirit. Thank you very much for your content.
Modelling the wrench like it's a prize in a gameshow showcase made me laugh 😂
He's modelling it like it's something else entirely
If you win tonight you get this..BIG ASS PIPE WRENCH
😂 I knew that crazy multi wrench would show up again but I didn't expect to see it so soon. It's fun watching you tackle the big jobs!
U r my favorite restoration person, i love your sense off humor, and a handsome fella too
Beautiful gigantic pipe wrench! Your poses are perfect. I also love the cameo of the multi tool. 💕
I don't usually comment on these but I nearly spat my drink out when you just laid down beside it - it almost looks like something made as a joke for just how ridiculously huge it is!
Nobody can ever claim that this channel is ordinary that's for sure, I love the way your hands look so small compared to that wrench! Another great episode, keep it up :)
HTR~, What a display demonstration😵💫. You are a nut through and through. I love it! Never have I laughed so hard at a man's tool before.🤠 Thanks for showing this one!😍 Thanx Thom...
your content brings me joy
Seeing you restore that wrench brought back some not so fond memories. I used to work in a mill where we had to use wrenches like that. We used to call it bull work. We used to use a forklift to turn it. Good job, just gives me shudders thinking of it.
With a big enough lever you can move the world ... this thing is like the love child of a tanker bar and chain wrench.
Love it! You do outstanding work, you find unique and fascinating items, and you have a wonderful, quirky sense of humor. Keep it up, man!
Your humor is awesome!
You would have loved the 12'6" torque wrench I helped use in the boiler room of HMCS Saguenay as a shiny new marine engineer in 1978. Used to torque flange bolts on the largest main steam lines that operated at 550 psi and 650°F superheat. Leaks occasionally happened but you sure didn't want one. ❤️⚓️🇨🇦❤️
Wow, I imagine a leak like that could quite easily remove your finger or arm if you were unlucky enough to find it that way? :-O
@@poly_hexamethyl or you entirely if you broke a mirror, or had a whole black ship cat that happened to cross your path left to right. "Schwarze Katz von links nach recht bringt was schlechts"
@@HrLBolle I love the saying about the schwarze Katz! I knew it the other way, "Schwarze Katz von rechts nach links - Glück gebringts" :-)
I never knew this guy was actually a very small person
Didn't need to go to the gym when you were working on this 😂 Former oilfield hand myself. I've heard tale of these magnificent tools, first time seeing one. Stuff like this keeps me coming back time and again. Fantastic work sir!
Thank you for restoring a piece of my hometown history, Buffalo New York
You crazy fool you!!! I love it man, you have a great sense of humor! I can remember seeing wrenches of that general size around some of the old mills I saw as a boy. Back when the way you made something heavy duty was by overbuilding things to a crazy extent. But hey! It worked! Finding something like that, a symbol of Buffalo NY's industrial past, in brand new condition is a 1 in a million thing! Well done!
Finally you've used the ink pad trick to paint letters in relief! I bet you are asking yourself "what took me so long?" The great touch of the video was the appearance of that insane multi-wrench!
Missed you. Yeah your back !!!!!!!!!
The beefcake shot of you on the bench with the wrench has made me inexplicably joyous. Thank you!
Immediate thumbs up for the "Burt Reynolds on the bearskin rug" shot at the beginning.
You are my favorite restoration channel by a long shot!
HandToolRescue is the _only_ restoration channel I watch. :)
The humor is what makes this the best restoration channel on KZhead, by far!
So glad you used the insane wrench!!
Да он просто новый! Был. А теперь, просто выставочный экспонат! Только я, с трудом представляю, историческую ценность этого ключика. Смотрю твой канал уже давно. Удачи в поиске интересных механизмов.
Так он и указал в начале, что не использованный инструмент 😉
@@joulupukki2385 извиняйте, в английском не силен. Так, отдельные слова успеваю прочитать.
This is exactly what I need for tightening my 18" NPT fittings!
I'm so glad to see that patent build wrench being used. Literally the perfect tool for the job.
I love your intro so much. Makes me smile Every Single Time.
Williams is still in business but no longer produces this design. They moved to Buffalo, NY in 1914 so this wrench was produced sometime after that. RIDGID still sells a "Chain Tong" of this exact design and size (~$2700 U.S. but made in Slovenia)
Desafio de peso parabéns incrível você é um mestre na restauração fantástico
So glad the crazy tool was utilized! I never thought it would come in handy.
Well you have once again restored a great tool. GOOD WORK !!!!!!!
As a hobbyist collector of old and unusual tools, I enjoyed this, especially as I have a smaller chain pipe vise that mounts to a bench rather akin to how this chain tong works thar needs a clean and that paint on the letters. Sadly the markings are all on the bottom when mounted! And I have a monkey wrench about that size with wood grips that look mahogany or teak but are oil stained so hard to tell, it is clean to bare metal and still works great, a few others I have are rustier and they will get the dip! Thanks for a fun show but no tell!
Extraordinario trabajo en una herramienta impresionante de veras, congrats!!! 👏🏼👏🏼
Very pretty! I like it!
Now that’s a nice bit of kit you have there, wished I had one or for that matter needed one as massive as that Great restore 👍🏻😊
Hah! Just restored a tong wrench just like that but 1/2 the size, made in New York also. Not a vulkan though. Being a fitter I might actually use mine though, lol!
Used one a few times for turning 8" to 12" diameter tie rods of injection molding machines, though I think the one I used was likely one size smaller as it didn't have a lifting ring on the end and you could slide a cheater pipe on the end of the handle for extra leverage. They're a beast and especially challenging for just one dude to handle.
I wrote code for controlling injection molding machines. Does that count?
More videos!! Awesome project restoration. I don't know where you found that wrench but it was fascinating to watch restore it 10 minutes!!👍
Completely wild and enjoyable!!! And as you noted before the restoration, nobody even way back when had used it... maybe because they couldn't? Your modeling on the table was truly a highlight!!😂😂😂
Really glad we got to see your massive tool, thanks mate
That’s what she said!
Excellent video again! Thanks for the silly video shots that showed the scale of that thing. It looked big, but when you horizontally Vanna White'd it, that is a big freaking wrench!
that's awesome. speaking of wrenches the one my wife got me from you works great it's my go to over the regular crescent. great work
I love the fact the Madlad Wrench actually worked on that beast. Great video, Eric.
Ivor Biggun. It never ceases to amaze me how you can remember how these complicated mechanisms got back together. 😉😉
Toolbag Ted from Birkenhead probably has one that size.
@@webchimp 😉😉😁😁🤣🤣
Well, he did have the video to review to make sure that the bolt went back into its proper hole.
@@steveschainost7590 Yes but even so he has to be extremely precise on reassembly or it would be ruined
He used that weird wrench like a true master.
Haven't been here in a while. That's quite the large wrench! Great episode!!!
50 seconds in and I feel like its a "Price is Right" episode. 10/10
I have to send my brother this video. I’ve got a picture of him using one at the power plant he worked at. I don’t know if it’s exactly the same model though. He said they had to keep stuff like that locked up because contractors would walk off with them. Drag away is more likely
Eres un artista!!! Felicitaciones por tu gran trabajo y gracias por compartirlo con nosotros. Saludos desde Santiago de Chile
That is about the biggest pipe wrench I have ever seen. It looks much better than before. Great work.
Its not a fucking pipe wrench
thank you : This brought back some memories;some good some bad all of which makes me sooo glad I'm retired. working those things on a hot August day sure was draining.
I've seen a wrench just like that twice that I remember. One was on a video about working on an oil well drilling rig. The other time was back in the late 70s when I worked at the phosphate mines, and it was used on a bolt on one of the giant draglines that were used to mine the ore. It was a two or more person operation, and I think they used a hoist to place and support the wrench while it was being used. BTW - I liked the "attitude adjuster" you used on the main bolt for that big pipe wrench. (I've got the 24 inch crescent wrench version, and have needed to use it a few times.)
having seen videos of oil rigs they do have gigantic wrenches and they are suspended by cables. Given how they would move them up and down with ease though I am thinking some of them were counter weighted on the cable vs being on an electric or other power source winch.
Used by Paul Bunyan's brother Ed the Plumber. Ed's Heating and Cooling was a BIG DEAL back in the day.
That is an awesome wrench! Great restoration!
That's a LOT of breaking strength!!! Looks like a new one again and you did a wonderful job restoring it as well!!!!! Enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up
This one is crazy. I see you found a use for the weirdest wrench ever
I had one of those at the mill I worked at. In the 32 years I worked there I think I used it 2-3 times. Working with 6” pipe. Worked for what I used it for but not something I liked to pack around in my tool belt. 😁
I appreciate you making these videos. Your intro takes me back to 80’s sitcom intros.
Boy oh Boy, the Chain Tong. One of the best tools out there.
well it turned out nice ... but i was hoping you were going to polish the handle to a mirror finish
"That's not a wrench, THIS is a wrench!"
Ahaha. You are a comedian. big pipe wrench. Motivation for maintenance also increases. It looks like new with the black dye repair. I never get tired of the videos here.
You've done some great machine and tools HTR, but this one is elegantly superb.
What an insane piece. A relic of a time that has all but disappeared. I imagine most of it's brothers and sisters got recycled into truck and tank parts in the 1940s.
Had to think about why. Don't we use big pipes any more?
@@tsm688 power tools used now I would think.
@@alun7006 A power tool that big would still need 6 stout men to hold it unless it was attached to a truck or something. Not because it's big, but because the torque required to prevent the tool spinning instead. And given the choice between 5 random guys and a truck, 5 random guys still seems cheaper
We call those Chain tongs in the oilfield industry
Always something interesting thats what I love about your channel keep it up and Thank You
Probably looks better than it did new. Great job. I have a modern Rigid the same size I use in my shop on an all too regular basis.
I’m so glad you laid next to this thing cause you really lose a sense of scale and just how obnoxiously large it is
A place where you need giant tools to work on your giant tools.
Nice work as always!👍👍👍
Im glad you finally found a use for that multi-wrench :D
I used to work in a huge metal stamping plant and the shop had 2 or three of those chain pipe wrenches. We used to throw it on a wheeled cart to transport it to the job. It would take two of us to get it connected to the pipe, and you got a workout out using it. Using those big tools was hard work, biggest threaded bolts were 12" in diameter, the nut was almost 24" in OD
That still won't get my oil filter off my car....
LOL I laughed so hard with you laying next to this enormous wrench lol! You're vids are the best
Gidday, ya mad bugger! Lol. That has got to be the BIGGEST item you've done yet! And I agree, good to see you using that patented tool you made, amazing how you turned a picture into a solid hand tool! I can't wait for your next offering, also a bit nervous as to what it could be! Lol.