Originally Posted By 3BP:
I dont think I have ever broken any tool, that I was using properly.

Originally Posted By Bullseye100:
I've been in the auto repair business for 39 years.  As I got older I realized what a pain in the ass it is to wait for a tool truck that only come once a week. Breaking tools is not an option if I can help it.  

Also, I've accumulated just about anything I'll need to get the job done safely.  Breaking tools is not safe.

Originally Posted By Rixae86:
27 years in, most stuff that breaks is stuff that wears. Wobblys are pretty high on the list.
I'm not in the rust belt though.

Originally Posted By GenoGS:

But it’s soft and brittle.

Originally Posted By batmanacw:
I turn wrenches for a living in an industrial application.  I also work on my own rust belt cars. In my past I have worked at a farm and worked on plenty of farm equipment. I've also worked in an automotive repair shop when I was a younger man.

I rarely break my tools. Very rarely. I seem to be able to sense that a tool is in danger of breakage and step up to a tool that will accomplish the task.

I've got 1/2" ratchets that can handle near 1000 nm or 737.5 ft lbs. Beyond that I've got a 3/4" ratchet and breaker bar.

There have been times I've chosen to sacrifice a tool. Doesn't happen often. I can see breaking a ratchet or specialized tool occasionally as they wear.  


Do you break your tools often? Why? Do you ever question yourself or just rely on the tool manufacturers to continually replace your shit?

Originally Posted By nandoz:

I’ve only been in industry for 21 years, but yeah I don’t break my tools or grind them into different shapes. Makes me think a guy don’t know what he’s doing.

Originally Posted By saturnstyl:
I almost never break anything and when I do its usually a torx bit or something.

Originally Posted By gearjammer351:
I haven't broken many, but it's inevitable to break something occasionally.


I once worked at a Ford dealer, and I was the front-end guy. There was one 19mm bolt that I had to loosen on the LCA of trucks & SUVs that you could only get the open end of a wrench on, and it took a lot of force to get it to move.

I broke one wrench about every other month.

I bought a Craftsman pro wrench to use while waiting for the Snap On guy to come back around. That one never broke. It became the primary instead of the backup.

Originally Posted By nandoz:

I’ve only been in industry for 21 years, but yeah I don’t break my tools or grind them into different shapes. Makes me think a guy don’t know what he’s doing.

Originally Posted By rtintwo:


I feel like I’m missing something here. Soft and brittle makes no sense.

Originally Posted By DayandNight1701:


I turn 6 hour oil sender replacements on a particular model by using a chopped and grinded 24mm wrench...Takes me 30 minutes.  They pay me 6 hours but  I figured out how to not have to remove the intake to do it. I've done 100s. Weird.

Originally Posted By batmanacw:


Breakage due to wear is no crime. That should be expected. Breaking ratchet after ratchet seems.....excessive...

Originally Posted By Lee-online:
I have been working on Cat equipment for almost 25 years, over that time I have broken a lot of tools. The biggest thing I have learnt is quality tools are worth the money.

The tools I have broken recently are swivel sockets, I use them all the time and they just don't hold up to the power the new Milwaukee m18 tools put out, especially at hard angles.
Impact adapters, 1" to 3/4" broke as I was hammering on a bunch of 46mm bolts in a tight spot. Couldn't get the 1" drive socket in but could get the 3/4 drive in there. Same for the smaller adapters.
Air tools have failed, impacts, die grinders etc, The company pays for them to be rebuilt or replaced so whenever they are down on power, we turn them in.
Ratchets have been rebuilt, breaker bar square drives snap, I have never used the crane on on these.
Screw driver and seal picks have had new shanks. Dull, worn  damaged.
I only remember 1 wrench breaking,

The "Rust Belt" is a term coined to describe the region characterized by the decline of the once-booming manufacturing industry in the United States. The abundance of abandoned factories, often covered in rust, along with decaying infrastructure, symbolized the loss of jobs and systemic economic issues, giving birth to the term “Rust Belt.”

Originally Posted By maslin02:
Broke the 13mm box end wrench I’ve been using to change oil for 18 years. It earned it.

5 and 6mm on Benz transmission drain plugs, have to use the nice gold SnapOn sockets and they last a few years.

90* picks break off changing fuel filters. ICON made it 3 days. I have a small Channel Lock pick that’s been going for years, Witte is the best but they’re hard to source.

T30 torx break off in rotor bolts. 1/4” give up after a long time, 3/8” gun will twist off even a nice SnapOn bit at will. Sometimes it takes an air hammer to get those bolts out

That’s about it. Occasionally a 3/8” chrome socket, impact or not.

Originally Posted By xd341:
I'd call that wear not abuse.

Abuse is putting the 3 foot cheater bar on the ratchet and fragging its guts.

Originally Posted By poncho455:
Since it seems like the term has been misused several times in this thread, ackchyually....


[not the pedantic chrome vanadium guy - whoever that is]

Originally Posted By CenterMass762:


I just drill the heads off those torx rotor bolts if they don't come off easily. They're pointless outside of the assembly line anyway.

Originally Posted By outdoorsportsman:


I'll do my best to explain it. The more you harden a steel the more brittle it becomes, however some steels can be harder than others but still be less brittle due to the alloy.

As an example as there has recently been a lot of claims that the HF Icon wrenches are 'better" than Snap On so lets compare the two.

Snap On uses their own proprietary wrench steel. Snap On developed this steel back in the 1960's when the invented the Flank Drive wrench at the request of the US military. The Navy was having problems rounding fasteners on aircraft and asked Snap On to develop a wrench that would resist rounding the fasteners. Snap On's answer was Flank Drive. The design of the wrench needed a harder steel to resist wear.

Snap On is able to harden their wrench steel to 52 rockwell hardness. While being incredibly hard and wear resistant, it will also usually bend before it breaks. This is true of their breaker bars and ratchets as well. This makes the tool safer.

On the other hand the Icon wrench uses the same chrome vanadium steel they use in their Pittsburgh wrenches. The chrome vanadium steel can't be hardened as much as Snap On's steel without becoming extremely brittle. Even though the chinese/taiwan made chrome vanadium wrenches are not hardened as much as a Snap On wrench AKA softer they are still more brittle than a Snap On wrench (or other USA made wrenches).

Chrome Vanadium was once used by Snap On to make wrenches, they stopped using it about 90 years ago in favor of better steel. I have never in my lifetime seen an American made wrench, socket or ratchet made from chrome vanadium until Matco recently started using it for some very inexpensive wrenches they are making, likely in an attempt to compete against the lower cost imported wrenches. However the vast majority of chinese/taiwan made tools (wrenches, sockets, ratchets) are made with chrome vanadium. It's less expensive and requires less expensive tooling and less frequent tooling changes. It's a trade off, lower cost for greatly decreased performance and longevity.

The difference in hardness between a Snap On wrench and any chrome vanadium wrench is easy to test yourself, used to be done on the tool trucks all the time yet somehow no one seems to remember. You take the 2 wrenches and turn them on their side. Smack the side of the beam together as hard as you can 10 times or so. Now look at the 2 wrenches. The Snap On wrench won't have a mark on it and the chrome vanadium wrench will have a bunch of dents in the steel. This is due to the softer chrome vanadium steel which is also more brittle, more likely to break.

So while the harder you make a steel the more brittle it becomes, you can harden some alloy steels more than others yet still have them be less brittle. The reverse is also true, you can make a chrome vanadium wrench less hard while having it still be more brittle than a wrench made of better steel. This is why I advise people to buy American made hand tools, they are made with better steel. Better being harder, stronger, less brittle. The chrome vanadium wrenches wear faster and break more easily.

Hope this helps  someone to made better choices in the tools they purchase. I recommend staying away for the taiwan/china tools.

Originally Posted By midcap:
I can count on one hand the amount of tools I have broken in my lifetime

Originally Posted By outdoorsportsman:


I'll do my best to explain it. The more you harden a steel the more brittle it becomes, however some steels can be harder than others but still be less brittle due to the alloy.

As an example as there has recently been a lot of claims that the HF Icon wrenches are 'better" than Snap On so lets compare the two.

Snap On uses their own proprietary wrench steel. Snap On developed this steel back in the 1960's when the invented the Flank Drive wrench at the request of the US military. The Navy was having problems rounding fasteners on aircraft and asked Snap On to develop a wrench that would resist rounding the fasteners. Snap On's answer was Flank Drive. The design of the wrench needed a harder steel to resist wear.

Snap On is able to harden their wrench steel to 52 rockwell hardness. While being incredibly hard and wear resistant, it will also usually bend before it breaks. This is true of their breaker bars and ratchets as well. This makes the tool safer.

On the other hand the Icon wrench uses the same chrome vanadium steel they use in their Pittsburgh wrenches. The chrome vanadium steel can't be hardened as much as Snap On's steel without becoming extremely brittle. Even though the chinese/taiwan made chrome vanadium wrenches are not hardened as much as a Snap On wrench AKA softer they are still more brittle than a Snap On wrench (or other USA made wrenches).

Chrome Vanadium was once used by Snap On to make wrenches, they stopped using it about 90 years ago in favor of better steel. I have never in my lifetime seen an American made wrench, socket or ratchet made from chrome vanadium until Matco recently started using it for some very inexpensive wrenches they are making, likely in an attempt to compete against the lower cost imported wrenches. However the vast majority of chinese/taiwan made tools (wrenches, sockets, ratchets) are made with chrome vanadium. It's less expensive and requires less expensive tooling and less frequent tooling changes. It's a trade off, lower cost for greatly decreased performance and longevity.

The difference in hardness between a Snap On wrench and any chrome vanadium wrench is easy to test yourself, used to be done on the tool trucks all the time yet somehow no one seems to remember. You take the 2 wrenches and turn them on their side. Smack the side of the beam together as hard as you can 10 times or so. Now look at the 2 wrenches. The Snap On wrench won't have a mark on it and the chrome vanadium wrench will have a bunch of dents in the steel. This is due to the softer chrome vanadium steel which is also more brittle, more likely to break.

TLDR:
So while the harder you make a steel the more brittle it becomes if they are both the same steel, there are some alloy's that can be hardened more than other alloy's yet still be less brittle than other alloy's. The reverse is also true, you can make a chrome vanadium wrench less hard while having it still be more brittle than a wrench made of better steel. This is why I advise people to buy American made hand tools, they are made with better steel. Better being harder, stronger, less brittle. The chrome vanadium wrenches wear faster and break more easily.

Originally Posted By a390st:
If you default to using the largest practical drive size you can fit in the space, you'll rarely break sockets and ratchets.  Putting a pipe on a 3/8 rather than reaching for a 1/2 drive is asking for trouble.  3/4 drive is important for suspension and other heavy work, and is something a lot of younger mechanics ignore.
Most of them really lean on pneumatic and battery impact to keep that sweet time down.  They don't touch a ratchet anyway unless absolutely forced.

I find that we break torx bits most often and hex bits next.  The SO ones really do significantly outlast the others we've gone through, but they're too long for quite a few jobs.