Metric Wrenches

[seldomseen]

I can look at a standard bolt and know what wrench to get 1/2 or 9/16 or 5/8 but crawl under a new vehicle and look at the oil bung and not know if it 13mm or 14mm or 15mm so I better take all three.
Incubating leafcutter bees always in Fahrenheit, Celsius is not sensitive enough.
Carpentry work with a tape measure always feet and inches.

[WiltonRanch]

I find Allen wrenches frustrating, one over tight set screw filled with grease and dirt in a hard to get at place tackled with the wrong ( metric or SAE ) wrench can lead to praising Pierre Eliot Trudeau's existence.

Allen wrenches just suck. No matter metric or standard they just suck. Bloody Swedes that invented those things mustn’t have had their morning snus the day they come up with that brainwave.

[farmaholic]

I can look at a standard bolt and know what wrench to get 1/2 or 9/16 or 5/8 but crawl under a new vehicle and look at the oil bung and not know if it 13mm or 14mm or 15mm so I better take all three.
Incubating leafcutter bees always in Fahrenheit, Celsius is not sensitive enough.
Carpentry work with a tape measure always feet and inches.

I think we're used to SAE because it's what we grew up using most. I think we would learn to recognize the most commonly used metric bolts and nuts too. How often do you use 13/16? Even 5/8 and 11/16 are not super common.

But you do make a good point....there are 16 1/16 increments in an inch and 25 mm in an inch so if the smallest size wrenches in both systems start at approximately the same size, effectively there are about 1.5 times more metric size wrench sizes to visually memorize.

The cabinet maker who did our cupboards was a metric measurer.

Giving travelling directions should have become easier using kms because vehicles use them(not U.S.A.)

Could you imagine if there was a metric conversion for the time of day, months, etc.

I find hectares terribly awkward but application rates of Kg/ha compared to lbs per acre not intimidating at all because it is almost a one to one ratio, 1 lb/1 ac, 2.2 lb/2.47 ac ÷ 2.2 = 1:1.12 the hectare portion of the ratio is 12% bigger than the lb portion.....close enough for comparison/reference sake but maybe not for the precision ag people, LOL.

What have I seen malleefàrmer quote crop yeilds in? Kgs/ha?....yikes!

Long tonnes short tons, anything in Canada sell by the short ton anymore, hay?

Rating fuel mileage is hard to get used to in liters/100 kms versus miles per gallon(Imp or US, crazy)

So ya, I operate on a bit of both, not a hybrid of course, but individual of each other. I guess we really didn't need the Metric system but its here now and I use it too.

No politics in this post, sorry.

[farmaholic]

Allen wrenches just suck. No matter metric or standard they just suck. Bloody Swedes that invented those things mustn’t have had their morning snus the day they come up with that brainwave.

Old bearing locking collar allen screws are the worst, best tool for that job is the flaming hot wrench.

If the Allen head bolts are hard enough its not too bad sometimes, make sure the hole is clean so the wrench fits as deep as possible in the head.


Torx can be just as evil.

[grassfarmer]

Agree both the Allen key and the Torx are awful inventions - I'm sure the Torx was created just so you have to buy a whole other set of tools. I'm not around tools and machinery enough to judge bolt size by eye so I'm more a "grab a handful" of wrenches kind of guy. Quite often the metric size fits the imperial better than the imperial does and visa versa.
The craziest stand out for me in Canada is using kms instead of miles - when your country is laid out in miles and your neighbours use miles why would you introduce kms?
edit: After googling it I'm shocked to see we are not alone in following the km craze. Only the UK, US, Burma and Liberia listed as using the mile.

[MBgrower]

i find torx less likely to strip

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Could you imagine if there was a metric conversion for the time of day, months, etc.

My red headed Irish grandmother with a temper to match, wasn't very pleased with the introduction of metric, so, my Dad casually mentioned how complicated it was going to be to get used to the new metric hours, minutes, days, months. It was probably a good thing Pierre Elliot wasn't in the room at the time, to hear the reaction...

Long tonnes short tons, anything in Canada sell by the short ton anymore, hay?

In one of the most absurd paradoxes, most hay( at least around here) sells by the bale, regardless of weight or size, most buyers only care how much per bale. So most sellers seem to make the smallest loosest bales possible, but as long as they advertise that it is made with a JD baler, that is all that matters. I make massive tight bales, and I've tried selling by the pound, or ton, but no one cares.

[GDR]

In one of the most absurd paradoxes, most hay( at least around here) sells by the bale, regardless of weight or size, most buyers only care how much per bale. So most sellers seem to make the smallest loosest bales possible, but as long as they advertise that it is made with a JD baler, that is all that matters. I make massive tight bales, and I've tried selling by the pound, or ton, but no one cares.[/QUOTE]

Yep its crazy. I also like it when you ask how much the bales weigh, they are always 1500 to 1800lbs their balers have never made anything lighter. (Until you weigh a couple and they are 1200lbs) No one has a clue.

Interestingly though a lot of the straw baled around here the last couple years was sold by the ton, but agree hay almost always by the bale.

[fjlip]

Oh dear I have cursed Trudeau one for 50 years, still say the ROT IN HELL phrase when metric frustration rears it's UGLY LIBERAL head!
However the DUMBEST SHIT idea is the Philips screw! Should be illegal, but instead the USA banned Robertson! It's who you bribe...

[WiltonRanch]

Oh dear I have cursed Trudeau one for 50 years, still say the ROT IN HELL phrase when metric frustration rears it's UGLY LIBERAL head!
However the DUMBEST SHIT idea is the Philips screw! Should be illegal, but instead the USA banned Robertson! It's who you bribe...

Robertson was a Canadian with a far superior screwdriver who went to batt against an inferior screwdriver for the military contract but didn’t have the credent ear of the US govt like Philips did. I guess in retrospect we have been fortunate to have more Robertson screws here as opposed to our American counterparts. Hard to find a decent philips that fits properly and itself doesn’t wear in the tip. A poor Robertson will outlast a poor philips any day.