As recently discussed, Williams – a Snap-on Industrial Group brand – is one of 5 USA tool brands of affordable professional and industrial-quality wrenches, sockets, ratchets, and related tools and accessories. I have been meaning to pick up a nice set of fractional wrenches, and after much back-and-forth between the brands, I settled on a set of Williams SuperCombo wrenches.
As with typical combination wrenches, Williams SuperCombo wrenches feature parallel-jawed open ends and 12pt box ends that can be used on standard 6pt hexagonal hardware and fasteners.
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Williams SuperCombo wrenches sized 3/8″ to 1-1/4″ and 7mm to 25mm feature SuperCombo open ends and SuperTorque box ends. Wrenches smaller or larger than these sizes have standard open ends.
Williams SuperCombo wrenches’ open ends have special grooves on both sides that help to direct wrench forces away from fasteners’ corners. Rounding damage is greatly reduced, and grip is improved, allowing these wrenches to exert more torque than is possible with wrenches that have standard open ends that aren’t grooved.
Similarly, the SuperTorque box end is specially designed to allow higher torque without rounding or damaging fastener corners. Wrenching forces are placed on fasteners’ flat surfaces, rather than at their corners. Williams SuperCombo wrenches also have beefed-up box ends that help to improve their strength further.
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Williams SuperCombo wrenches are built appreciably thicker than other brands’ wrenches. Compared to Armstrong and Proto combination wrenches, Williams SuperCombos are noticeably stouter.
With many brands of combination wrenches, the handles are thinner than the open end. With these, the handles are actually slightly thicker.
Pros
- High torque SuperCombo and SuperTorque open and box ends can transmit a lot of torque without deformation or rounding fastener corners
- Long pattern lengths
- Thick and comfortable sides
Cons
- Thicker and heavier than competing brands’ wrenches
I only tested these wrenches very briefly. Within a few minutes of unwrapping the wrench set, I noticed that the 9/16″ had a couple of chips in the chrome plating around the box end. Small chips typically turn into big chips and flaking, so the set will soon be on its way back to Amazon. Some of the other wrenches had minor defects in their finish, but the chips were the only major issue for me.
I have been using a 11/32″ Williams SuperTorque wrench for a while longer, and will likely order a few loose SuperCombo sizes or a replacement set once my return is processed.
These wrenches get very thick very quick as you move up in size. Both the box ends and open ends work beautifully well, although I haven’t pushed either SuperCombo or SuperTorque opening styles to their limits.
I found that the size stampings were a little on the small side for the smaller wrenches, and while not well stamped into the larger sizes either, they were clear and easier to read.
Williams SuperCombo combination wrenches, as well as the SuperTorque wrenches that are too small or larger for the SuperCombo grooves in the open end, are very well made, notwithstanding the minor chrome plating defects.
The thickness of the wrenches will be a point of contention for some users. If you’re used to knife-edge wrenches, you might not like these. I like that these wrenches are as long as my Armstrong and Craftsman Professional wrenches, and longer than standard Proto ASD and Wright WrightGrip wrenches, but they are also considerably thicker.
I thought my WrightGrip wrenches were a little on the thick side, but Williams SuperCombo wrenches are thicker, at least when comparing even sizes. When comparing wrenches of similar length, such as a 1/2″ Williams SuperCombo wrench to a 9/16″ Wright WrightGrip wrench, the wrenches’ thicknesses are about the same. Thus, the Williams wrenches aren’t really thicker than the Wright wrenches.
The reason I purchased these wrenches is because they have premium features, such as robust box ends and grooved high-torque anti-rounding open ends. I bought the 11/32″ wrench to get a feeling for Williams quality and liked what I saw. The 7pc fractional set followed, and would be a keeper if not for the chrome defects.
Most of the wrenches had impeccable finishes, and after a little bit of testing and use the thickness of the wrenches was no longer much of a novelty.
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These wrenches are available with a high polish or satin chrome finish, as well as a black industrial finish. Although the Williams catalog says “high polish chrome and satin chrome,” only larger SuperTorque and standard sizes have a satin chrome finish. Therefore the choice is really only between chrome and black industrial finishes.
I will most likely order a replacement set, possibly with black industrial finish, and another one or two individual sizes with chrome finish. These are fantastic wrenches, and they’re less expensive than I would have expected. If there are any questions I cannot answer about these wrenches right away, I should be able to answer them soon.
Allen
I have a set of large (one inch and up) Supercombos and I can tell you they fit tight. In some instances the tight fit is a little bit of a hindrance, but I don’t think a person would have to worry about rounding anything off.
They do have a very hefty feel to them, the large beam never has seemed to bother me, and you can really crank on them.
fred
Over the years I bought quite a few Williams tools – and don’t recall any that failed. My days of buying combination wrenches were mostly in the 1970’s. Here’s my list of what I bought back then:
Long Pattern Combinatin Wrenches
SK-WAYNE C-8 1/4 INCH
BONNEY 1159M 9/32 INCH
HUSKY 33010 5/16 INCH
SK-WAYNE C-10 5/16 INCH
CRAFTSMAN VA-44692 11/32 INCH
SK-WAYNE C-12 3/8 INCH
SK-WAYNE C-14 7/16 INCH
SK-WAYNE C-16 1/2 INCH
SK-WAYNE C-18 9/16 INCH
HEYCO 40049 19/32 INCH
SK-WAYNE C-20 5/8 INCH
SK-WAYNE C-22 11/16 INCH
SK-WAYNE C-24 3/4 INCH
HEYCO 40053 25/32 INCH
SK-WAYNE C-26 13/16 INCH
SK-WAYNE C-28 7/8 INCH
SK-WAYNE C-30 15/16 INCH
SK-WAYNE C-32 1 INCH
SK-WAYNE C-34 1-1/16 INCH
SK-WAYNE C-36 1-1/8 INCH
SK-WAYNE C-40 1-1/4 INCH
MARTIN 1172A 1-3/16 INCH
SK-WAYNE C-42 1-5/16 INCH
SK-WAYNE C-44 1-3/8 INCH
SK-WAYNE C-46 1-7/16 INCH
SK-WAYNE C-48 1-1/2 INCH
Short Pattern Combinatin Wrenches
WILLIAMS MIDS4 1/8 INCH
WILLIAMS MIDS5 5/32 INCH
WILLIAMS MIDS6 3/16 INCH
WILLIAMS MIDS7 7/32 INCH
WILLIAMS MIDS8 1/4 INCH
WILLIAMS MIDS9 9/32 INCH
CRAFTSMAN VV-44089 5/16 INCH
CRAFTSMAN VV-44103 3/8 INCH
CRAFTSMAN VV-44104 7/16 INCH
CRAFTSMAN VV-44105 1/2 INCH
CRAFTSMAN VV-44106 9/16 INCH
CRAFTSMAN VV-44107 5/8 INCH
CRAFTSMAN VV-44108 11/16 INCH
CRAFTSMAN VV-44109 3/4 INCH
CRAFTSMAN VV-44099 13/16 INCH
CRAFTSMAN VV-44100 7/8 INCH
CRAFTSMAN VV-44102 15/16 INCH
CRAFTSMAN VV-44110 1 INCH
Stan
Ah the glory days of American made Husky and Craftsman. Hard to believe there was a time when both were mostly American made as well.
Never heard of Heyco before, but out of that last SK is the ONLY company not to become more or less a junk brand. Willams is still partially USA made, but not all a anymore.
If Sigmund Mandl (the creator of Husky) and Richard W. Sears (this goes without stating, but the original creator of Sears) saw what became of these brands, they would be absolutely ashamed. I know I would be.
Stuart
Try to stay on-topic.
Jammer
Well, will SK become a junk brand? Only time will tell.
jesse
Amazing that you have this list after all that time. Too bad Bonney is gone.
Stan
You can thank Cooper Tools for that. Thankfully they only outsourced Bon-E-Con, but never did that to Bonney though.
Harry J Epstein still has some Bonney items for sale on closeout though. At least at the time of this post they did.
Jon
I have this set but mine says “Cat” on them. Bought from caterpillar I’m sure I paid a bit more for them. I’ve always wondered who made them. Caterpillar has a full tool line but it’s pretty much rebadged snap on. The chrome is chipped on mine but that’s not a big deal to me. I love the comfortable fat build of these. Very comfortable to really pull on.
Scottthetech
Looks like they also come in high vis yellow. Is that just paint?
Stuart
And red. Possibly powdercoated.
Hang Fire
This article on wrenches prompted me to search for Williams sockets, since I need a 1/2″ Drive set (and want to buy US). I was excited to see good prices on the socket sets, but was disappointed to find they are imported with mixed reviews. Flaking chrome was mentioned more than once. Oh well, maybe I’ll just save up for SK.
Matt
They have two tool lines. One is inport other is USA.
You can get sockets made here and the price is still good.
The finish on the USA sockets is very good.
Ken
I have half a dozen nice Williams Superrench with both ends open, which bought in the early 80’s and they have very *slim* handles. They are almost like new (no flaking chrome), although they are SAE sizes so have only seen very light use around the house; I mostly only use metric on the cars and bikes…
Jim Felt
I feel so privileged to have been able to acquire and maintain (so far) my American made Craftsmen sets starting in the late Seventies. No flaking chrome in that benighted era. No heavy use certainly but also no misplaced tools yet either.
(Okay, I cheated and have duplicates of several common to me sizes)…
Great discussion.
Thanks!
Robert Hardy
J.H. Williams’ history is an interesting overview of the American economy. For many years, Williams was the premier brand for large fasteners (>15/16) and up. They were particularly well suited and widely used in the oil patch and on Marine projects. This was a thriving business for Williams. They also had the normal selection of automotive sized products, but really did not push them as they did with the large sizes. Williams was regarded as the top line inthe industiral field, much as Snap-On is today in the automotive sized tools. But the market started to change.
Demand for the large wrenches slowly eroded, as new construction methods and fastener options became available. I will bet that by 1990, Williams didn’t sell ten 1″ drive ratchets in the US. Hand tools in these traditional markets targeted by Williams were gradually retired and replaced by various quicker and heavier duty fastener solutions, not to mention the high proliferation of air impacts. That led to the opportunity for Snap-On to acquire the distressed firm. And it was a good marketing match of the two top hand tool manufacturers.
The satin finish large size wrenches mentioned above are probably from the original days. Williams prior to relatively recently did not make polished chrome; it was satin only. And for good reason. The markings were much easier to read on the satin finish, with the contrast between the satin handle, and the shining markings.
Williams was famous for having an amazingly broad line of wrench types, many most folks would not recognize today. It appears from the literature that all of those specialty offerings are made over seas. The US products seem to be limited to their sockets (and they are marked USA), and combination wrenches (also marked USA). The part numbers of US made contain a mixture of alpha characters and numbers, e.g., 1216SC is a 1/2″ combination wrench, and the 1213MSC is a 13mm combination wrench. Both of these product numbers are US made. The imports have all numerical product numbers. So it is easy to see which is which, even without the USA disclosure.
I don’t know what Snap-On plans to do with Williams. Their automotive, US made products are easily the equal in quality to Snap-On, I don’t think that Snap-On would decide at the corporate level that they wanted to compete with their own Snap-On brand. So I predict that Snap-On will use the brand to service the large wrench applications, where Williams still has a very good trade name, leave the automotive sizes as cousins to the Blue-Point lineup, and increasingly move production overseas.
Whatever the case, if you need any combination wrenches or sockets or socket accessories, snap up the US made Williams brand as soon as you can. I predict that option will not be around much longer, at least in the smaller automotive sizes.
RMH