Wrench Collecting Gives Bountiful Harvest

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Among the rare pieces in Joe Greiwe's collection is a set of key model Coe's monkey wrenches (shown above in the stand at front) in three sizes: 32", 38" and 48". "The 48-inch is very rare, very hard to find," Joe said. "I never dreamed I would ever get a 48-inch. But I found it just 12 miles away from home." The wrenches were patented Dec. 6, 1906. Photo by Bob Crowell

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Joe Greiwe collects gas engines, brass anvil paperweights, molding planes, carpenter's tools, spark plugs and vintage advertising materials. But it's the lowly wrench that's put the grip on the Batesville, Ind., man. 

"I was a tool collector," he said, "but the wrench collection has overtaken that. They're just so unique in their operating mechanism."

Joe's collection – somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 wrenches – reflects the hobby's unlimited scope.

"The reason wrench collecting is so interesting is that between 1830 and 1905, there were 3,300 patents issued on adjustable wrenches alone," he said. "The field is so big; it's just a never-ending search."

Adding interest to the search is the fact that many of the patented wrenches were manufactured in exceedingly small numbers.

Joe, who worked nearly 40 years as a carpenter and superintendent, knows a little bit about hand tools. "I have a few that nobody's ever seen before," he said.

There's no rhyme nor reason to the designs that endured.

"It's kind of amazing: Some of the patented wrenches were so unique, but they fell by the wayside," he said.

"Then there were others that aren't so good, but they survived. And you'll see new wrenches today that are made with the same principle as a wrench made in the 1800s."

Collectible wrenches fall into three primary categories: Implement wrenches, issued with a piece of farm equipment or machinery; adjustable wrenches; and cutout wrenches (those with the name of the manufacturer "cut out" of the handle). Joe concentrates on the adjustable wrenches.

"At the end of the last century, everybody was looking to produce the perfect wrench," he said. "They wanted it to be a quick adjust, without too much trouble; wanted it to stay in position, and be light and not cumbersome. That was the goal."

Good old American ingenuity resulted in countless designs: screw-adjusted wrenches, screw-adjusted with a ball bearing at the end of the screw; spring loaded; sliding wedge adjust, wheel adjust, lever adjust, and worm with screw adjustment. On some, the wrench was adjusted by twisting its head; on others, a pin would be changed. Other designs were less clearly conceived. One wrench was adjusted by using another wrench to tighten the first one's jaw; another was adjusted using a separate screwdriver.

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