One of the greatest discoveries of the mechanical man is leverage. A wrench allows you to turn a tiny little bolt with greater force than you ever could with just your fingers. Make sure you’re using the right one.

The box wrench, and its brother the open-end wrench, are the most common and versatile wrenches. Categorically speaking, a wrench is a tool that fits around a nut (as opposed to inside a screw or bolt, as the screwdriver). Another property of the wrench is that it uses leverage, vis-a-vis the wrench’s handle, to tighten or loosen the nut.

Other types of wrenches include the pipe wrench (for, you guessed it, pipes), socket wrench, adjustable wrench, lug wrench (a box wrench specially designed for changing tires), allen wrench. This last one was placed handily in the screwdriver category, despite the fact that, unlike the screwdriver, it does feature a lateral handle for leverage.

You are likely to need a wrench for:

• Working on a car or bicycle
• Plumbing-related stuff around the house (such as faucets and toilets)
• Objects held together with bolts

Wrench Technique

As with screwdrivers, it’s important to use the right size wrench. The wrench should fit snugly over the nut, with no play. It’s important to note that there are two sizing systems in all tools: SAE and metric. SAE (which, by most accounts, stands for Society of Automotive Engineers) uses inches. Metric uses millimeters. If you’re working on an American car, you’re more likely to need an SAE wrench. If you’re building a piece of furniture from Ikea, you’re more likely to need a metric wrench. When beginning your tool box, it’s a good idea to get a set of each.

To make it happen, connect the wrench to the nut or bolt, and give it a pull — and yes, it’s best to pull, rather than push. You’ll thank me for this advice if a tough nut or bolt suddenly slips free. While momentum-driven face plants onto uneven metal surfaces may provide hilarious and prize-winning video footage, it’s generally safer and healthier to fall away from metal surfaces.

Open-end wrenches are slightly angled. For best stability, angle your open-end wrench so that the more-open side is closest to you (or closest to the direction you’re pulling). Same goes with adjustable wrenches: the stable (and solid) side should be away from the direction you’re pulling, while the adjustable side is closest.

One more thing to consider is the angle of the wrench arm itself, giving yourself the best leverage. When possible, place the wrench at a 90-degree angle parallel to your body, so that pulling the wrench straight toward you allows for maximum torque. Once it’s loose, and less brute strength is needed, you can go for the wrench’s full range of motion.

Extra Leverage
Here’s a neat little trick, if the nut is stuck. You can use a length of metal pipe to extend the handle of the wrench. The longer the handle, the more torque leverage you get. That’s a fancy way of saying it will turn more easily with less work.

If a nut or bolt is really stuck, try a quick spray of Liquid Wrench or silicone directly onto the threads. Avoid using too much of this lubricant — you want it on the threads, not on the ears of your nut or bolt.

One more use of a wrench is to hold one end in place. Fasteners often consist of a bolt and a nut. You may try turning the nut, but instead of tightening, the bolt turns with the nut. In this case, you may need another wrench — one to hold the bolt in place, the other to turn the nut. If the item in question was designed properly, the nut and bolt will be two different sizes, so you can use two wrenches from the same set.

Wrench Pitfalls

If you use the wrong size, or an “approximate” size (i.e. using an American wrench to tighten a metric nut), you can strip or “dog-ear” the nut, making it unusable. For this reason, avoid using an adjustable wrench when you have the right sized box or open-end wrench for the job.

In some situations you may not have enough room for the full swing of a wrench. In such cases, dig back into your toolbox for the next tool in our series…

The "fiscal compact" outlines the closer integration of the national budgets of the 17 eurozone countries. A new legal framework and greater fiscal scrutiny will be imposed to avoid a repetition of the dubious financial practices that triggered the crisis. The treaty also agrees to strengthen mechanisms that guarantee short-term stability to euro economies in hot water.

So who is in and who is out?

All 17 eurozone nations and six other EU states outside the euro area have signed up. Initially, four countries cast doubt on the deal, complaining that it sweeps away some of the away hard-fought foundations of the European Union.

Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt told CNN that he had no mandate for treaty change. But, alongside Hungary and the Czech Republic, he said his country would leave the door open.

This leaves Britain, under Prime Minister David Cameron, alone among the 27 European Union nations to point-blank refuse to sign. Cameron said the treaty failed to safeguard Britain's voice in crucial policy decisions over the European single market and financial services sector. He said he had effectively vetoed an original deal, forcing German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy to forge ahead with a treaty that will be subservient to EU regulations.

Ireland has decided to hold a referendum on the fiscal pact because under the Irish constitution the people have to vote to ratify any significant transfer of sovereignty to Europe. It is likely to take at least three months to organize the referendum. The Irish have twice rejected EU treaties, only to approve them in second referendums.

Is this the beginning of the end for the European Union as we know it?

The treaty has exposed deep divisions between European Union members -- chiefly Britain and the rest of the bloc.

This sets the stage for a series of legal challenges as Britain strives to ensure the treaty does not result in a wholesale restructuring of the EU. Read Full Article

I disagree. I think Shane just snapped, or got so angry that he threw the wrench without thinking. I doubt there was true malicious intent - premeditated murder, if you will - beyond the wrench chuckin'

Shane is a hothead, we all know that. He takes a lot of actions without thinking through the consequences first. And they were in the middle of a very emotional and physical fight. Men like Shane (who is a former law enforcement officer and obviously trained in physical confrontation) often have only two speeds. Stop or All Hell Breaking Loose. There is no in between setting.

I'm not excusing what Shane did, by the way. It was a very lethal action against Rick. Just not so sure it was premeditated with INTENT to kill as many members seem to think.

Anyway, what say you? Vote, comment, call me nuts ... it's all good.

This post has been edited by tex: Today, 10:01 PM