s219
Super Member
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2011
- Messages
- 8,608
- Location
- Virginia USA
- Tractor
- Kubota L3200, Deere X380, Kubota RTV-X
I was assembling a chainsaw mill over the weekend and got frustrated with my decades-old collection of sockets and wrenches, where I always seem to be missing the required size or piece. I sometimes go out and buy a single socket or wrench to fill in the gap, but do the math and that's an expensive solution long term. So I looked through the Black Friday sales and found some great 200-250 piece sets on sale, and grabbed a Kobalt set from Lowes for $99 with a decent toolbox. I'll make this my main set in my shop, and throw my oddball collection into various toolboxes for backup use out in the field.
I was surprised to see that all of the big socket sets include sockets of the same sizes in both 6-point and 12-point, including the one I bought. Can anyone explain why you'd want both? I know 12-point is more useful overall, since it fits more types of bolt heads and is easier to slip on in tight spaces. But there must be an advantage of 6-point if they are duplicate parts of the set. About the only thing I know is that I'll either have to ignore the difference and randomly grab one, or know which type of socket is in which part of the toolbox when I go for a needed size....
I was surprised to see that all of the big socket sets include sockets of the same sizes in both 6-point and 12-point, including the one I bought. Can anyone explain why you'd want both? I know 12-point is more useful overall, since it fits more types of bolt heads and is easier to slip on in tight spaces. But there must be an advantage of 6-point if they are duplicate parts of the set. About the only thing I know is that I'll either have to ignore the difference and randomly grab one, or know which type of socket is in which part of the toolbox when I go for a needed size....