My 15mm cone wrench snapped mid-adjust on a 1994 Rockhopper hub, and I stood there holding half a tool
Last Tuesday I was repacking the rear hub on a 1994 Rockhopper a customer brought in, and about halfway through setting the cone tension my old 15mm Park wrench just gave out at the jaw. Snapped clean, no warning, and I stood there in the back of the shop holding half a tool and a hub that was now way out of whack. That wrench was probably 12 years old and had done hundreds of hubs, so it owed me nothing, but it still stung. I ended up using a thin adjustable and a lot of patience to get the cones right, which took me three times as long. Thing is, when I started out in the 90s we all had one or two wrenches we babied forever, and now I see guys toss a tool the second it feels off. I get it, steel is steel and stuff fails, but there's something to be said for knowing exactly how a worn tool sits in your hand. Anyone else still running a tool way past when it should have been retired, or am I the only one who gets attached to this junk?
That bit about holding half a tool got me. I've got a 14mm that's been rounded for years and I still reach for it first. New wrenches never feel right in the hand.