Skilled man tools

You can rarely use a ring spanner or socket in plumbing. An open ended spanner is not that much better than a good adjustable spanner.

Besides that, there may be less standardisation of nut sizes in plumbing

Because plumbers are oafs.

Bill

Well actually if you use them carefully, you don't damage the flats or ridges. And if something is going to move, a stilson will move it where even a ring spanner will slip (and it is tricky to fit a ring spanner over existing pipework).

The first is handling precision engineering the second is just after no leaks of water. Brian

and, it's very difficult to grip a pipe with spanner.

As a child (70 years back) I remember watching a pair of plumbers fit vacuum piping to my father's upgraded cow shed. The pipe was clamped in a pair of stands, a huge threading die used to put a thread on the end and a joint sleeve fitted/sealed with paste and Hemp.

Jointing the pipe in the shed involved a pair of Stilson wrenches. Nothing I saw that day involved the use of spanners: adjustable or not.

Steel conduit electrical work is similar but at least electricians get to do up backnuts:-)

Why did tyneside shipyard workers use a club hammer and cold chisel for tightening up nuts ?.

That's how iron gas piping is still done (where necessary for protection) today.

All the houses on my estate built circa 1972-1978, have 3/4 inch gas piping prepared onsite like this feeding the baxi bermuda back boiler, then a continued run of 3/4 into the kitchen as far as as a 3/4 inch tee joint with a 1/2 inch capped stub for a gas fridge and another 1/2 inch feed to the cooker point.

All done in mild steel, with hemp and boss ?white tapered BSP joints then painted with black bitumen paint and buried under the ground floor screed.

You need to use 'stilson' wrenches to get a grip on the pipe and couplings.

because they thought they were rivets

Because they didnt need to ever undo them

Same with plumbing.

The main difference is higher torque is needed on cars. Adjustables mangle things at high torque, adjustables are fine at plumbing torque.

NT

I take it you never work on a car?

The standard 'spanner' on those will be a socket. Often in conjunction with a torque wrench. Since on a car many fixings tend to be calculated fairly carefully, to keep size and weight to a minimum.

Nothing like as critical with domestic plumbing.

And modern cars use Torx and other nuts/bolts that a stillson is not suitable for.

every car mechanic will also have a big 'water pump pliers' which comes in handy quite often, though not for stubborn threaded fittings.