A British company has resurrected a 91-year-old adjustable wrench design and created the MetMo Grip, a super-slick looking, fast-adjusting and lockable wrench that also functions as a clamp and looks like way too much fun to fiddle with.
Where a regular adjustable wrench makes you fiddle with a thumb wheel until you've got the width right, this thing slides up and down freely, then locks into place once you release the little black adjuster grip. This makes it look like a super-quick way of getting onto a bolt, and also allows it to function as a small clamp when required.
It's CNC machined from solid stainless steel, with a lightweight 6061 hard anodized aluminum adjuster, and weighs in at a reasonably hefty 300 g (10.6 oz). It handles bolts from 0.5mm up to 22mm in diameter (0.019" to 0.866"). It acts as a bottle opener and a box cutter, hangs easily from a belt hook, and in its fully closed position it acts as a 1/4" bit holder that you can pop screwdriver bits or whatever else into for a little leverage.
It also costs UK£99 (US$132), which makes it ludicrously expensive for an adjustable wrench, never mind the fact that my old mechanic friends all shiver at the sight of adjustable wrenches and multi-grip pliers, calling them "butcher's tools, not mechanic's tools" that savage nuts and bolts, rounding them off mercilessly.
On the other hand, it looks like a super neat little mechanical thing to fiddle with, and MetMo is leaning into that fact. Indeed, it's selling the MetMo Grip as much as a "super satisfying desk toy" as any kind of serious tool. And people are certainly responding; it's nailed its Kickstarter target 35 times over and counting. It's a bit rich for us, but more power to 'em!
Check out a video below.
Source: MetMo Kickstarter
