www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

The Wera Joker is the latest offering from Wera, although Wera are famous for making probably the best screwdriver bits in the business they also make a wide variety of tools that other companies do not currently make.

When I bought my kit the only sizes available were the 10mm, 13mm, 17mm and 19mm



What is so special about the Joker?



Firstly it is a combination ratchet spanner but with a difference, the open end of the Joker has a special stop plate which, if the nut it in the correct orientation can hold the nut captive. This feature is extremely useful as you can place a nut in the jaws, then hold the end of the spanner to position the nut in the most difficult to reach places. Already I have used this feature at work on an awkward piece of machinery and it made my job much easier.


At the opposite end to the open end is a ratchet that operates at 5 degree increments, so it even works in the tightest of spaces-

The ratchet also has a handy directional arrow.

The jaws on the Wera Joker serve a few purposes, firstly the spanner can be used like a normal open ended spanner, but rotate the nut slightly and it will be held in position. If you come across a fastener that has rounded off slightly the stop plate can help to grip and remove the rounded off nut or bolt.





Here the Wera Joker is holding a nut ready for positioning-



This really is an excellent piece of kit and the good news is that a full set is now available in some countries. This certainly is not the cheapest set of spanners around, I paid about £70 for a set of 4 but they are very well made and extremely useful.

very clever design the simple ideas are the best

They do make good gear mate, you would have thought they good of pick a better name to call them

will have to have a look at them often have to try and fiddle around holding a nut on in awkward places. Have you seen the koloss ratchets they do really like the idea of them for heavy work.

transitboy wrote:They do make good gear mate, you would have thought they good of pick a better name to call them

Yeah, not sure why they chose that name

pud1771 wrote:will have to have a look at them often have to try and fiddle around holding a nut on in awkward places. Have you seen the koloss ratchets they do really like the idea of them for heavy work.

Yes, I have seen it.

At first I thought it was a stupid idea, having a ratchet and hammer combined in one unit, but after speaking to a few people they said that in the past they have used their ratchet as a hammer (something I would never do).

It makes perfect sense though if you were installing through bolts regularly, just drill the hole smack it with the ratchet and then tighten the nut

The extension bar is a good idea too, but they say that the maximum torque is about 600nm which is a bit on the low side for such a sturdy looking ratchet. The centering spike also looks like a good idea, but it would be better if they made a 90 degree centering spike or 45 degree centering spike as you can't get a straight spike in many places.

I don't use my ratchets as hammers, just about anything else though Shiny chromed snapon ones

That ratchet looks like a good idea, not sure about how much stick the podger would accept though, and you wouldn't want to beat it in a hole

I have used my halfords pro ratchet as a hammer many times normally when I am putting coach bolts on to gate plates. have just got my self a nice set of podgers so will use them more but still would like a koloss just as is shiny and new lol

my podger is really a metal marlin spike