Read this very interesting 8 year old, 339 posts, thread at garagejournal. A machinist in Greece saw that their 13mm open end wrenches were getting damaged after only a short time in service tightening hardened (51HRC) hex bolts on a lathe head. This motivated him to start measuring Rockwell hardness at the open end of many wrenches, and also measured plating thickness.
What surprised a lot of people was how soft the Hazet 600N wrench was, compared to the Stahwille and Snap-On
In his machine shop, for their particular use on the lathe, the Hazet open end surface was the least durable of the three. It did get chewed up earlier by the hardened bolts than the other two wrenches. After 5 months of use in the shop, by different employees, the Stahlwhille had noticeable damage. For the Hazet it was 2.5 months. The Snap-On was only tested for 2 months IIRC, and it held up well.
When working on automobiles in a shop, will the Stahlwille and Snap-On wrenches out last the Hazet? I have no idea!
What surprised a lot of people was how soft the Hazet 600N wrench was, compared to the Stahwille and Snap-On
In his machine shop, for their particular use on the lathe, the Hazet open end surface was the least durable of the three. It did get chewed up earlier by the hardened bolts than the other two wrenches. After 5 months of use in the shop, by different employees, the Stahlwhille had noticeable damage. For the Hazet it was 2.5 months. The Snap-On was only tested for 2 months IIRC, and it held up well.
When working on automobiles in a shop, will the Stahlwille and Snap-On wrenches out last the Hazet? I have no idea!
Brand--------------------------HRC---------------- Chrome coating (μm)
Proxxon-------------------------45--------------------
Acesa----------------------------32--------------------
Gedore No7---------------------40---------------------
Garant---------------------------41--------------------
Matador 190---------------------41---------------------8.5
Garant---------------------------41--------------------~0
Stahlwille-----------------------47---------------------~0
Matador 190 old series---------38--------------------15
HR (India) Lidl------------------34--------------------10
Bost-----------------------------49 -----------08
Dowidat No6 12-13-------------38--------------------10
Gedore No6 14-17--------------52 --------------10
Unior----------------------------47.5-------------------15
IUS------------------------------47 --------------05
Izeltas---------------------------44----------------------~0
Cobalt Ratcheting Wrench------45----------------------~0
Hazet 600N Beam--------------35----------------------17
-------------open end------------- 34---------------------~0
Hazet 603-----------------------40----------------------~0
Facom 440----------------------44----------------------~0
Stanley 87-073------------------41----------------------?
Snap-On-------------------------45,5--------------------10
Husky combi---------------------43---------------------10
Husky ratcheting combi----------40--------------------10
Craftsman USA-------------------39,5-------------------0
Pittsburgh-------------------------35?---------------------5 to 10
Heyco 410 Maxline---------------44---------------------~0
Heyco 400------------------------28----------------------~0 (10μm on beam)
Gedore 1B------------------------42.5--------------------~0
Beta 55 13-17---------------------43--------------------------~0