Socket Wrenches for Dummy Tool Users

Commercial socket set

There was a time when just about every teenage boy learned basic car maintenance by helping Dad change the oil and swap out the spark plugs of the family sedan. If truth be told, it's almost impossible to do either task yourself in the age of pollution control and transverse-mounted engines on front-wheel-drive cars, which may be why entire generations of males are growing up ignorant of the basic tools once used by shadetree mechanics. Take, for instance, the rather strange take on "How to Use a Socket Wrench" that Jason Brick published to Hunker.com.

Brick opened by defining a "socket wrench," at least as he understood it:

"A socket wrench is a simple tool that allows you to turn nuts and some bolts with more ease than a regular wrench. The ratcheting feature allows you to keep the wrench connected to the bolt and eliminates the need to refit it with every turn of the bolt..."

Of course, those of us who have used socket wrenches are well aware that that's not a socket wrench: that's a ratcheting handle (Jason apparently went straight to Wikipedia, which allows that the "definition" he reworded "needs additional citations for verification"). In reality, if you visit the sites of toolmakers (Craftsman.com, SKtools.com, Mactools.com) you won't find any "socket wrenches" among their products. Why? Because there's no such thing – and that's where Jason should have started!

Sockets are part of a set that includes multiple cylindrical sockets in a range of sizes and formats, at least one handle, and quite probably an assortment of accessory parts. Oh, Brick more or less explained how to use a ratcheting handle, although he did demonstrate his unfamiliarity with socket sets by telling readers to, "Attach the socket to the handle by sliding the square hole in the socket onto the square knob on the handle." Apparently Jason's unaware that there are different-sized drives...

Overall, Jason more or less explained how to use a ratcheting handle better than Cameron Easey did, but he still didn't explain how to use a socket set. He wrote about plugging a socket onto the handle and how to use a ratchet, but he failed to mention a single other part of a socket set. Hell, he didn't even mention that sockets are available in both metric and Imperial measurements. On the other hand, he neglected to mention any of the following topics: breaker bars, extensions, crowsfoot wrenches, drive adapters, 6- vs. 12-point sockets, deep-well sockets, hex-head sockets, Torx®-head sockets, universal joints...
No, Brick didn't tell people "how to use a socket wrench" any more than showing someone how to thread a needle is telling them "how to sew." On that basis alone, we hereby present to Jason the Dumbass of the Day award.

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