# It is my!!! shifter spanner



## benchallam

i had a small workshop aft in the poop as wll as the engine room.on the bulkhead a large wooden board,with all! the spanners,shifters hammers,etc painted on the board,so i could see what was there and what was missing.now as the ships lecky i spent a lot of time on the deck winches,and some of the spanners were unusual sizes, so a shifter was very handy,i had three sizes,large, medium, and slightly smaller medium.on day they dissappeared,i found the second eng had
appropriated then,i complained to the chief,he calls the second to explain,it seems they had lost there last shifter to the bilges,too bad says i its my shifter,you can go down into the bilges and search, to dirty says he! its still my shifter and i need it!!! the chief wise man says ok,loan them the shifter and i will see you get it back...which i did good man that chief... p.s. the poop door was allways locked forever after..they bought new shifters in singapore(Ouch)


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## makko

I lost three 10" shifters to the bilges. I ended up with an 18" which I still have!
Rgds.
Dave


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## pensioner

This reminds me of when on Port Albany we carried two packing cases, size of a quarter container, on deck to Oz from the States they were marked Tractor Spares. It was not until they were being unloaded and one of the cases split that we found these spares were actually Barcho shifters vaious sizes from 6inches to 36inches. What a wast6e of an oppertunity!!!

Regards


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## ninabaker

Being a deck cadet with no workshop as such to have recourse to, I carried my little 7" shifter (for whessoe gauge repairs and the like) plus a small marlin spike, on a lanyard round my waist and my larger shifte in that leg pocket in my boilie. As these and my Green River knife were all my own I had borrowed the letter punches and put my name and strip of pink nailvarnish on them all and never lost one. They are all still in my tool box at home.


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## makko

Great memory, Nina! My Dad still has his shifter, a notch per trip.
Rgds.
Dave


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## chadburn

ninabaker said:


> Being a deck cadet with no workshop as such to have recourse to, I carried my little 7" shifter (for whessoe gauge repairs and the like) plus a small marlin spike, on a lanyard round my waist and my larger shifte in that leg pocket in my boilie. As these and my Green River knife were all my own I had borrowed the letter punches and put my name and strip of pink nailvarnish on them all and never lost one. They are all still in my tool box at home.


Interesting approach, I was warned as Apprentice that it was a waste of time stamping your name on anything as they will pinch the name in any case-------------never thought about borrowing one of the Tacker Lasses nail varnishesB\)


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## makko

Apart from the workshop tools, there were also specific tool sets for doing main engine or auxies which were identified by a coloured band. They were accompanied by a check list to make sure what came out of the box went back into the box and didn't stay in the engine! On the B. Priam, the RoRos had their own tool sets and their own workshop/stores area outside the ERworkshop. 

It is a crime to nick tools, as they used to say, taking bread out of children's mouths! I think all leckies were a bit picky about their tools - maybe because their workshop was outside the engine room, in the working alley and more prone to pilfering.
Rgds.
Dave


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## ninabaker

When I was on the Cable Venture we laid a cable across the Bay of Benghazi for a japanese company. They came on board in Vigo with the cable, all the repeaters etc, technician crew, and boxes of absolutely everything they thought they would need, from boilersuits to pot noodles and including all the highly specialised tools

When the contract ended we were all aghast when all the stuff went over the wall rather than given away or sold. The most unbelievable waste I have ever seen. We did try to rescue tools and stuff but the japanese guys really really didnt want anyone to have it.


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## david freeman

*bacho 10" Shifter*



benchallam said:


> i had a small workshop aft in the poop as wll as the engine room.on the bulkhead a large wooden board,with all! the spanners,shifters hammers,etc painted on the board,so i could see what was there and what was missing.now as the ships lecky i spent a lot of time on the deck winches,and some of the spanners were unusual sizes, so a shifter was very handy,i had three sizes,large, medium, and slightly smaller medium.on day they dissappeared,i found the second eng had
> appropriated then,i complained to the chief,he calls the second to explain,it seems they had lost there last shifter to the bilges,too bad says i its my shifter,you can go down into the bilges and search, to dirty says he! its still my shifter and i need it!!! the chief wise man says ok,loan them the shifter and i will see you get it back...which i did good man that chief... p.s. the poop door was allways locked forever after..they bought new shifters in singapore(Ouch)


 10" Bacho Shifting Spanner:Was this not the choice of engine rooms? All other makes would splay at the jaws and one would fly in one direction while the shifter in another, while trying to fix some casing/machine part covered in S---T and oil+grease?


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## chadburn

There's no doubt that Bacho was top quality, others would strip their worms if a bit of pressure was put on them. One of the best tool kits came with the B. B. Turbo's


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## Ron Stringer

*Pedants' Corner -*

Bahco Shifter/Adjustable Spanner/Wrench - do please note the spelling, which comes from name of the firm, BA Hjort & Co, that bought the rights from the inventor, Johan Petter Johansson.

The standard radio room tool kit as supplied by MIMCo to meet the carriage requirements of the UK Radio Rules, contained an "adjustable spanner" - which was what is commonly referred to as an auto wrench in the US. I believe that Draper still produce them (or something similar). It was an ugly square-shouldered tool, crude and unwieldy, prone to slip and guaranteed to break the skin of us, delicate _radio_ engineering types.

I asked the ship's electrician what was the name of the slick-looking shifter that he carried round in the pocket of his overalls. It was a Bahco and at the first opportunity I bought one. That was 1960 and I still have it, together with one or two others bought when I was working ashore as a technician. After many years subsequently working in an office and then lounging around in retirement, I can't remember what they would be used for but I have them, just in case.


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## spongebob

There has been a lot of discussion and praise for the Bacho shifter on this forum but that make is a relatively new one to me. I grew up with the ‘Crescent’ shifter made by the Crescent Tool Co Jamestown New York.
Apparently this range of spanners was invented by an immigrant Swede Johan Johansson in the 19th century and a Karl Petersen set up the Crescent Co in 1907.
They made the shifters and a range of pliers including the multi-purpose fencing pliers that served as a no 8 gauge wire cutter, a staple puller, a strainer and a staple hammer.
It is claimed that Charles Linberg’s flight across the Atlantic in 1927 carried Crescent Shifters and pliers in his tool kit.
I have several original Crescents and a few imitations such as Fuller and non-descript makes ex Asia manufacture but there is no denying the quality of a 12 inch crescent owned by my partner’s father. He started work as a engineering trainee on the Otago Daily Time Newspaper before going to Flanders in WW1 and returned to NZ in 1918 to work as a motor mechanic. This spanner in front of me and from his well cared for tool box could well date from that period.
I should buy a Bacho to add to my collection

Bob


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## david freeman

a sad story very sad. Are all your tools in working order?


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## GWB

Was always told use the correct spanner and don't use or carry a shifter they are only good for rounding off nuts. the only time I have seen a lad use one was to nip up a valve gland nuts, then told go get the correct tool for the job.


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## jaigee

makko said:


> I lost three 10" shifters to the bilges. I ended up with an 18" which I still have!
> Rgds.
> Dave


I FOUND a 10" Bahco in the bilges whilst checking the M.E. mounting bolts, it's still in my toolbox. (Thumb)


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## salvina

I still have my Bahco 6" which came aboard with the builders supplied toolkit in 1963 on the Salvina.


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## New Haven Neil

jaigee said:


> I FOUND a 10" Bahco in the bilges whilst checking the M.E. mounting bolts, it's still in my toolbox. (Thumb)


Snap! MV Warwickshire, Bibby Line, 1977, found it bilge diving because that's what they made cadets do! Still have it, plus a more modern version that isn't as stylishly curved.


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## retfordmackem

ninabaker said:


> Being a deck cadet with no workshop as such to have recourse to, I carried my little 7" shifter (for whessoe gauge repairs and the like) plus a small marlin spike, on a lanyard round my waist and my larger shifte in that leg pocket in my boilie. As these and my Green River knife were all my own I had borrowed the letter punches and put my name and strip of pink nailvarnish on them all and never lost one. They are all still in my tool box at home.


Nina were you on the Gunner that sailed from Barry dry dock to Curacao 1/5/1973?. I was the Lecky on board Alan Scott


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## ninabaker

retfordmackem said:


> Nina were you on the Gunner that sailed from Barry dry dock to Curacao 1/5/1973?. I was the Lecky on board Alan Scott


Nah, 'fraid not. I was never on the Gunner but I do recall the ribald jokes about how they returned VHF callups.....

I did get to Curacao on some ship or other, cant remember which offhand. Odd place. All posh front for the cruise ships and manky lagoons at the back.


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## Varley

retfordmackem said:


> Nina were you on the Gunner that sailed from Barry dry dock to Curacao 1/5/1973?. I was the Lecky on board Alan Scott


I used an engraving tool (from Sears) to mark most of my own tools - but I never, ever, took my nail varnish to sea.


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## John Rogers

Ron Stringer said:


> Bahco Shifter/Adjustable Spanner/Wrench - do please note the spelling, which comes from name of the firm, BA Hjort & Co, that bought the rights from the inventor, Johan Petter Johansson.
> 
> The standard radio room tool kit as supplied by MIMCo to meet the carriage requirements of the UK Radio Rules, contained an "adjustable spanner" - which was what is commonly referred to as an auto wrench in the US. I believe that Draper still produce them (or something similar). It was an ugly square-shouldered tool, crude and unwieldy, prone to slip and guaranteed to break the skin of us, delicate _radio_ engineering types.
> 
> I asked the ship's electrician what was the name of the slick-looking shifter that he carried round in the pocket of his overalls. It was a Bahco and at the first opportunity I bought one. That was 1960 and I still have it, together with one or two others bought when I was working ashore as a technician. After many years subsequently working in an office and then lounging around in retirement, I can't remember what they would be used for but I have them, just in case.


We call them 'adjustable wrenches"in the States.

http://www.channellock.com/adj-wrenches.aspx


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## Varley

I am probably repeating myself but an old saying (ie one picked up on first trip):

"The radio room has tools by act of Parliament, the engine room, by act of God"


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## Ron Stringer

John Rogers said:


> We call them 'adjustable wrenches"in the States.


Have just got to the bottom of this!

I had written in an email to a pal in Edmonton, Alberta, that I still used the shifter that I had at sea. (Also a long screwdriver I bought in the States with a clip for holding the screw while you located the hole when doing equipment repairs - that's another story). He wrote back asking what a shifter was and I explained that it was an adjustable spanner.

At which point he said he recognised what I was talking about and added that on a recent visit to his daughter in San Diego, Ca., he had been given an 8" _autowrench_ as a birthday present. So I thought he was correcting me and autowrench was American for shifter.

After reading your response I Googled 8" Autowrench and discovered that it is a Black & Decker version, where the opening and closing of the jaws is done electrically at the touch of a button! An Automatic Adjustable Wrench they call it and it runs off two AAA batteries. How lazy do you have to be to need the assistance of a motor to open and close the jaws of an 8" shifter?


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## Ron Stringer

*Tools At Sea*

Before anyone asks, the long screwdriver referred to in an earlier post was one that I bought in Norfolk, Va. The Marconi design office must have held shares in GKN (a major UK supplier of screws and other fixings) because every piece of equipment had screening covers for all compartments, held in place by dozens of screws. Some of these could only be reached at full stretch, or lying on your back on the deck, or reaching behind a withdrawn unit where you could not see the screwhole. Removing and replacing them at sea was always a challenge and when joining a ship there were always covers with screws missing, where someone had not been able to replace them or had lost them during a repair.

While ashore in Norfolk I passed a tool store (in those days I was fascinated by the range of tools and accessories available in the States, and couldn't pass a tool store window without extensively studying the contents). There I spotted the answer to a MIMCo sparky's dream - a Stanley screwdriver with a clear plastic handle and a 12" hexagonal steel shaft fitted with a sliding spring clip device, which gripped the head of the screw being placed or removed. I had never seen such a smart idea and one that would save me hours on an Apollo, Radiolocator or a Crusader job.

I just had to go into the store, where I bought the wonder tool, even though it cost a small fortune and used up much of my sub. For the next year or so, it proved a God-send and I was so pleased with my purchase, finding it unbeatable in tricky situations.

Then, when I was on leave at home in Manchester, I looked in one of my favourite tool shops and there was the very same Stanley screwdriver. But it was slightly less than half the price I had paid for mine in the States. Bugger.


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## Duncan112

Confession time here - I was Second Engineer on "Chitral" (Ex Arafura, not the original P&O Passy liner) and the Lecky's workshop was conveniently situated on the middles and had a nice vice in it. The purifier room was under the workshop on the bottom plates and had no vice. I needed to press a bearing out of something so carted it up one flight of ladders and started to use the vice, it was a very tight bearing so I heaved on the vice handle and was rewarded with a satisfying banging noise, unfortunately it was the vice fracturing, leaving the bearing unscathed. Strangely the lecky's workshop started to get locked after that (didn't stop me though - hinge pins are easy to drive out). Lecky was Keith Turner - ex Port Line before he joined Swires - lives near Hexham now - great shipmate and a real sense of humour (needed it on there!!)


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## jmirvine

Ron Stringer said:


> Before anyone asks, the long screwdriver referred to in an earlier post was one that I bought in Norfolk, Va. The Marconi design office must have held shares in GKN (a major UK supplier of screws and other fixings) because every piece of equipment had screening covers for all compartments, held in place by dozens of screws. Some of these could only be reached at full stretch, or lying on your back on the deck, or reaching behind a withdrawn unit where you could not see the screwhole. Removing and replacing them at sea was always a challenge and when joining a ship there were always covers with screws missing, where someone had not been able to replace them or had lost them during a repair.
> 
> While ashore in Norfolk I passed a tool store (in those days I was fascinated by the range of tools and accessories available in the States, and couldn't pass a tool store window without extensively studying the contents). There I spotted the answer to a MIMCo sparky's dream - a Stanley screwdriver with a clear plastic handle and a 12" hexagonal steel shaft fitted with a sliding spring clip device, which gripped the head of the screw being placed or removed. I had never seen such a smart idea and one that would save me hours on an Apollo, Radiolocator or a Crusader job.
> 
> I just had to go into the store, where I bought the wonder tool, even though it cost a small fortune and used up much of my sub. For the next year or so, it proved a God-send and I was so pleased with my purchase, finding it unbeatable in tricky situations.
> 
> Then, when I was on leave at home in Manchester, I looked in one of my favourite tool shops and there was the very same Stanley screwdriver. But it was slightly less than half the price I had paid for mine in the States. Bugger.



I've got one of those which I bought somewhere, though I can't remember where. Like you, I found it a wonderful tool, and it helped me a lot as screws in leckie equipment were often in difficult places too. Still in my toolbox to this day.


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## Varley

Me too. Never though to use it for unscrewing but very handy when 'starting' to screw in. Fairly sure it was 'Craftsman' (Sears?) not sure where mine is now but I am sure I will have it somewhere.


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## KIWI

As an apprentice purchased a set of Crescent Crestalloy shifting spanners.Seventy years on still have the 4-6 & 12 The jaws are as tight on them as the day they were bought.In particular the 12 shows around the handle signs of a very hard life but one can still use it without fear of knuckle damage. KIWI


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## Hamish Mackintosh

GWB said:


> Was always told use the correct spanner and don't use or carry a shifter they are only good for rounding off nuts. the only time I have seen a lad use one was to nip up a valve gland nuts, then told go get the correct tool for the job.


That is quite true, I worked in a shop where the forman would throw a dickie fit if he saw one using a "Cresent wrench" He would say it was a Lazy mechanics method, one who had not learned his trade and couldn't tell what sizes he was working with, and was just too dam lazy to go to his box and get the right size wrench


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## Hamish Mackintosh

Ron Stringer said:


> Before anyone asks, the long screwdriver referred to in an earlier post was one that I bought in Norfolk, Va. The Marconi design office must have held shares in GKN (a major UK supplier of screws and other fixings) because every piece of equipment had screening covers for all compartments, held in place by dozens of screws. Some of these could only be reached at full stretch, or lying on your back on the deck, or reaching behind a withdrawn unit where you could not see the screwhole. Removing and replacing them at sea was always a challenge and when joining a ship there were always covers with screws missing, where someone had not been able to replace them or had lost them during a repair.
> 
> While ashore in Norfolk I passed a tool store (in those days I was fascinated by the range of tools and accessories available in the States, and couldn't pass a tool store window without extensively studying the contents). There I spotted the answer to a MIMCo sparky's dream - a Stanley screwdriver with a clear plastic handle and a 12" hexagonal steel shaft fitted with a sliding spring clip device, which gripped the head of the screw being placed or removed. I had never seen such a smart idea and one that would save me hours on an Apollo, Radiolocator or a Crusader job.
> 
> I just had to go into the store, where I bought the wonder tool, even though it cost a small fortune and used up much of my sub. For the next year or so, it proved a God-send and I was so pleased with my purchase, finding it unbeatable in tricky situations.
> 
> Then, when I was on leave at home in Manchester, I looked in one of my favourite tool shops and there was the very same Stanley screwdriver. But it was slightly less than half the price I had paid for mine in the States. Bugger.


There is also a light on the market now which slips onto the screw driver blade its about the size of a silver dollar has five LED lights and works off three hearing aid batteries, great for those dark, hard to get at places, it has a tight neoprene centre which allows it to be used on most sizes of screw drivers


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## makko

Hamish Mackintosh said:


> "the foreman would throw a dickie fit if he saw one using a "Cresent wrench" He would say it was a Lazy mechanics method, one who had not learned his trade and couldn't tell what sizes he was working with, and was just too dam lazy to go to his box and get the right size wrench"


I was taught the same way, Hamish. And, always, preferentially, use a ring spanner.
One "tool" (of mass destruction!) which should be banned are the so called "mechanic pliers" or jolly greens as we knew them. Guaranteed to make SH - 1T of any fixing they are put near! After that come Mole Grips which, in my humble opinion, should only be used to hold parts together when tack-welding them.
One tool which has always been a favourite is my automatic cable stripper, a super addition to any tool box.
Rgds.
Dave


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## Peter Short

ninabaker said:


> Being a deck cadet with no workshop as such to have recourse to, I carried my little 7" shifter (for whessoe gauge repairs and the like) plus a small marlin spike, on a lanyard round my waist and my larger shifte in that leg pocket in my boilie. As these and my Green River knife were all my own I had borrowed the letter punches and put my name and strip of pink nailvarnish on them all and never lost one. They are all still in my tool box at home.


So that's who damaged the letter punches! (MAD)

When I was a school boy I was given my first tools, these included mid-range quality "HIT" adjustable spanners (i.e. "Crescent" in this part of the world). I then used the letter punches to name them - and noticed (I still feel guilty) that the wrenches were fairly hard and the letter punches were no where near as "crisp" as before I started (EEK) All tools engraved after that!

I later got my own proper Crescent's (Crestoloy), the best you can get IMO. I prefer the older style, but the newer ones still seem good, just a bit thick on the handle. One of my brothers (a diesel mechanic) bought Bahco's in the 1980's - they were not as good as a real Crescent. The Bahco's showed jaw damage after a while, mind you, working on Caterpillar fasteners wore out every tool I think.


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## spongebob

Talking of Crescent and Crestaloy, I have a pair of Crescent side cutter pliers that my father bought in 1939 to take to the practical exam for his NZ electrical wireman's registration.
the still have an ungapped cutting edge and are good for many years yet .

Bob


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## chadburn

There is a difference between "nipping" an item of equipment up and "tightening" an item of equipment up, for instance, I would "nip" a Gland up with a Shifter ( and I would doubt that there were many sea-going Engineers who have not done this), but to tighten a Flange I would use spanners, preferably Ring Spanners.


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## makko

I agree, Chief. I was taught that the shifter was only to be used to "nip". Also good to sound out a small tank/50 Gal. drum. We should start a thread on "tool etiquette" or the correct use of tools!
Rgds.
Dave


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## chadburn

Do not abuse your Tool could be the title, I still have the spanners I bought Army Surplus in the mid 1950's plus those I made as Apprentice "Test" pieces, Mainly Whitworth of course!!

Regards


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## makko

Good title suggestion!

I was told that when BF acquired the (76?) Laertes and Lycaon in Russia, the crews tasked with bringing them back to Liverpool found that all the nuts and threads were neither BSF, Whitworth nor Metric, they were "Russian" standard. They were forced to make "plate" spanners for any task. I don't remember what happened when they went into service. So, the Odyssey Works workshop programme did work after all!
Rgds.
Dave


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## chadburn

The unusual spanner was the 7/16 Whitworth, not having this size in your toolbox led to the increased use of the shifter.


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## Jim Glover

I was on the Seaway Eagle ,Acergy Eagle ,and Seven Eagle as a Dive/lay Tech
supervisor for 14 years.my locker was full of every tool imagined as lots of tools ie shifters.tape mearsures ,hammers etc allways went missing all the time.Unfortunately I deceded to change companies and as we were in Canada had to give all my treasured tools away .When working for Shell Tankers the 2nd Engineer would phone your cabin when off shift if he could not find certain tools .Always leave the workshop as you would like to find it and you will never go wrong .


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## Ginando

It was almost a cardinal sin to use someone else's shifter. I have seen lads almost come to blows over that very issue. My weapons of choice were a 10" Bahco, and a wee 6" bahco. Like one of the previous posts I was taught they were only to be used to tweak the nuts on wisping steam glands etc. Anything else and it had to be a spanner


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## ART6

Not really a ship side story, but maybe relevant to how engine room staff regard their tools: In the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth I served my apprenticeship in the North British Engine Works in Glasgow. When I started I had no tool kit and no money to buy one, but I saved what few pennies I had and I scrounged some wood from the carpenters shop to make a toolbox. Once the box was made and had a secure padlock I bought a two-pound ball pein hammer and then a shifter and one or two other devices that I could afford or purloin. My tool box resided under the squad bench along with those of my betters, and I was a proud lad!

Then, one morning, my toolbox was broken open and empty, as were some others. No-one said much, but the older members of the squad did their own detective work. A perpetrator was found because he had things in his tool box that he should not have had. He was dragged to a bench and his hands were forced palm down on the oily wood. Then one man took a hammer to his hands.

I as a "civilised" southerner was horrified, but the fitter who was my mentor said "No-one works in this yard without his tools, and if he doesn't have them or says he has lost them then the tallyman won't let him in. He stole other men's livelihoods."

That was engraved on my soul, and even nowadays I defend my tools with my life!


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## retfordmackem

makko said:


> I agree, Chief. I was taught that the shifter was only to be used to "nip". Also good to sound out a small tank/50 Gal. drum. We should start a thread on "tool etiquette" or the correct use of tools!
> Rgds.
> Dave


. Shifters were what they were implied ,shifting sizes ,as a 5yr apprentice in the 60s at the coal board we were expected to know and use the correct size tools on the correct size nut s/bolts.The Electrician just put his hand out and we /I gave him the correct sized spanner and correct type (ring,open ender , box etc ). .Shifters were a lazy mans tools in those days but they caught on didnt they.[=P]


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## retfordmackem

makko said:


> I agree, Chief. I was taught that the shifter was only to be used to "nip". Also good to sound out a small tank/50 Gal. drum. We should start a thread on "tool etiquette" or the correct use of tools!
> Rgds.
> Dave


. Shifters were what they were implied ,shifting sizes ,as a 5yr apprentice in the 60s at the coal board we were expected to know and use the correct size tools on the correct size nut s/bolts.The Electrician just put his hand out and we /I gave him the correct sized spanner and correct type (ring,open ender , box etc ). .Shifters were a lazy mans tools in those days but they caught on didnt they.[=P]


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## makko

retfordmackem said:


> Shifters were a lazy mans tools in those days but they caught on didnt they.[=P]


They continue to be! Trouble is that its a slippery slope for the uninitiated from shifters to the dreaded Jolly Green Giants or "Mechanics Pliers" or (Lord forbid!) Mole Grips. I almost ripped someone's head off with my yelling when I saw the "nipping" with Vernier calipres once! (I kid you not)

When I was at sea, I was famous for hauling around my torquable windy hammer and sockets. Its a habit that I cannot shake: I now use my adjustable Bosch electric drill/driver and sockets whenever I can. 

Rgds.
Dave


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## Farmer John

I have always worked with the idea that shifters mean scabby knuckles, I had Whitworth (old cars), AF (newer cars) and metric (most things now. I hesitate to say this, but Dad did leave behind a tiny King Dick adjustable, it is amusing as a curiosity, but who the hell used them? (I know, my Dad)


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## spongebob

Do I recall correctly that the full size Whitworth nut was reduced across the flats at one time?
Wa this a wartime economy measure or am I dreaming?

Bob


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## eldersuk

spongebob said:


> Do I recall correctly that the full size Whitworth nut was reduced across the flats at one time?
> Wa this a wartime economy measure or am I dreaming?
> 
> Bob



I believe you are right there Bob. That's why we had those odd sizes, 7/16, 9/16 etc.

Derek


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## funnelstays

I always liked Bahcos as the thrust washer is always doing thrusting taking a nut off not like its American cousin the Crescent.


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## k.atkinson

Joining the _Wandby_ in Dunkirk in France on the 11th November 1969 we loaded one metre diameter steel gas pipes including piling them up on the hatch covers possibly five tiers high for the Standard-Esso refinery via the primitive port of Mersa-el-Brega in Libya which we did twice. To reach the Foc’sle a route up and down ladders and walkways of five hatch stacks or a scamper through the pipes just short of hands and knees. While we were at sea, I was told to remove the hold bilge valves for overhaul from the Fwd. Pump Room so I took some tools and went on my way. I tried a couple of spanners one too small and the other too big so I returned to pick up an adjustable to which the 2nd told me to “use a proper spanner” so I returned with a chisel. The original Whitworth nuts were very meaty so manufacturers economised with the result that the dimensions had shrunk and spanners did not fit. After a few days of this I found scrambling through the pipes to be preferable.


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## John Gowers

Mersa-el-Brega my second port when I went to sea a wonderfull place, not. Bahco's were the best shifters in 1974 and are still the best today, as was commented on early when I served an apprenticeship ashore I was always told to use the correct size spanner but on going to sea you could not carry a full set of spanners around so the Bahco was used for small jobs on the bigger jobs it was better to used the correct size combination spanners. For the uninitiated they have a ring on one end and open ended on the other.


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## Nick Jones

I still have my 10" Bahco shifter bought somewhere in Liverpool in1967 while with P.S.N.C. and also most of the toolkit and box we were given as apprentices with Joseph Lucas though I think one of my sons nicked and lost my slide rule I used in college. I also have an adjustable wrench I believe was made by my grandfather in the early 1900's, still in good condition. Now I'm old (78) I don't use them much any more so my sons will probably let them rust away.
I've been looking for an old British car restorer in Houston to give my sets of Witworth and BA tap and die sets too, one never knows if they want them.
Cheers,
Nick Jones


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## barry john macauley

My(?) sets of Taps and Dies (including BSF), now reside in The Bathurst Agricultural Museum, complete with Posh wooden boxes adorned with the proud logo TSS Ceramic (scrapped Antwerp early seventies). Thank you for reviving this thread, it was most enjoyable.


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## John Gowers

My dad was was a toolroom fitter and I passed on his BSF and BSW taps, dies and spanners to the Bo'ness railway preservation society a few years ago along with a pile of tools that I would never use better that than rusting in our loft. The taps and dies were in perfect conditon being stored in a small wooden cabinet with drawers all lightly oiled. Hope they guys there have put them to good use.


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## Jim Glover

Ron Stringer said:


> *Pedants' Corner -*
> 
> Bahco Shifter/Adjustable Spanner/Wrench - do please note the spelling, which comes from name of the firm, BA Hjort & Co, that bought the rights from the inventor, Johan Petter Johansson.
> 
> The standard radio room tool kit as supplied by MIMCo to meet the carriage requirements of the UK Radio Rules, contained an "adjustable spanner" - which was what is commonly referred to as an auto wrench in the US. I believe that Draper still produce them (or something similar). It was an ugly square-shouldered tool, crude and unwieldy, prone to slip and guaranteed to break the skin of us, delicate _radio_ engineering types.
> 
> I asked the ship's electrician what was the name of the slick-looking shifter that he carried round in the pocket of his overalls. It was a Bahco and at the first opportunity I bought one. That was 1960 and I still have it, together with one or two others bought when I was working ashore as a technician. After many years subsequently working in an office and then lounging around in retirement, I can't remember what they would be used for but I have them, just in case.


Bacho were the best,the shiny ones were Sh----


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## taffe65

Jim Glover said:


> Bacho were the best,the shiny ones were Sh----


Excrement description!


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## Bankman

benchallam said:


> i had a small workshop aft in the poop as wll as the engine room.on the bulkhead a large wooden board,with all! the spanners,shifters hammers,etc painted on the board,so i could see what was there and what was missing.now as the ships lecky i spent a lot of time on the deck winches,and some of the spanners were unusual sizes, so a shifter was very handy,i had three sizes,large, medium, and slightly smaller medium.on day they dissappeared,i found the second eng had
> appropriated then,i complained to the chief,he calls the second to explain,it seems they had lost there last shifter to the bilges,too bad says i its my shifter,you can go down into the bilges and search, to dirty says he! its still my shifter and i need it!!! the chief wise man says ok,loan them the shifter and i will see you get it back...which i did good man that chief... p.s. the poop door was allways locked forever after..they bought new shifters in singapore(Ouch)


Didn't you know about magnetism,also bankline Chinese chippies very very useful,most probably pick the lock.
Example they are shock proof making good tester's might make good egg foo your,you give him your eggs bud.


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## Bankman

Jim Glover said:


> Bacho were the best,the shiny ones were Sh----


We all know wot a shadow board's for.
Me thinks Engineer needs more important, fish it out your self.
You need Chinese chippy bad.


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## sternchallis

makko said:


> I lost three 10" shifters to the bilges. I ended up with an 18" which I still have!
> Rgds.
> Dave


An 18" is a bit large to have down your rule pocket. I found a 6" the best size, for nipping up the odd steam gland as you are doing your rounds, anything larger go back to the WS.
I found a 10" Bahco in the bilge and cleaned it up and claimed it, still use it on the odd plumbing job as standard spanners don't often fit. One is the stainless flexis used under the sink.
Bahco much better than the American Crescent, whose jaws were always loose.


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## Irvingman

The Newfoundland crew used to refer to the Shifter as a Tum Wrench - you adjusted it using your "tum" (thumb)


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## Burntisland Ship Yard

sternchallis said:


> An 18" is a bit large to have down your rule pocket. I found a 6" the best size, for nipping up the odd steam gland as you are doing your rounds, anything larger go back to the WS.
> I found a 10" Bahco in the bilge and cleaned it up and claimed it, still use it on the odd plumbing job as standard spanners don't often fit. One is the stainless flexis used under the sink.
> Bahco much better than the American Crescent, whose jaws were always loose.


Still have my 10 inch Bahco, after 40 years, gets its annual strip down clean and oil annually...


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## taffe65

Burntisland Ship Yard said:


> Still have my 10 inch Bahco, after 40 years, gets its annual strip down clean and oil annually...


Is it really 10'' or are you just boasting 🤣


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## rogd

Hmph! I've still got my 12" but I don't use it much now!!


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## John Gowers

I only had a 4" but it did not stop me getting married and having a couple of kids.


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## taffe65

John Gowers said:


> I only had a 4" but it did not stop me getting married and having a couple of kids.
> 
> View attachment 693831


What does the #69 denote,no pun intended?


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## John Gowers

I only noticed that when I took the photo !!!! Maybe it was the 69th version.
It was actually my dads wee shifter he was a toolroom fitter and was working in a toolroom in the 30s so could be 90 years old.


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## taffe65

John Gowers said:


> I only noticed that when I took the photo !!!! Maybe it was the 69th version.
> It was actually my dads wee shifter he was a toolroom fitter and was working in a toolroom in the 30s so could be 90 years old.


It looks vintage and apart from scuff marks looks in amazing condition.


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## John Gowers

It was kept in a wooden toolbox which had a load of small drawers and was full of imperial taps, dies and drillbits etc which I gave to the Bo-ness Railway Preservation Society as they will have more chance of using them than me.


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## Waddie

Didn't know about shifters until my first trip (1976) and felt compelled to but one in Calcutta. I still had it until recently when we moved.
The last one I bought was in Japan in 2017, a 6 incher with jaws that could open to 24mm (M16)!
Obviously no good for tightening but really useful 'holding' the bolt whilst using a proper spanner.
Always believed an engineer should carry a shifter and torch otherwise I don't believe they are doing their job properly when doing their walkaround prior to UMS, but judging by the many leaking or seized valve glands I have found this is not the case!


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## Micky Bodill

I found a 10" Bacho shifter under the donkey boiler on the Orcoma, PSNC, in 1975

returned it to the owner Andy Parker 45 years later. 
the bigger shifters used to fall out of the ruler pocket.


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## barry john macauley

I was intrigued by the 12 inch ones. I suspect that they were not used as a rule,


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