Shop owner's torque wrench policy made me question my whole routine

Dropped by a friend's shop in Dayton last week and saw they lock up their torque wrenches in a cabinet with a sign-out sheet, even the cheap click types. I've always just tossed mine in the tool box drawer and never thought twice about it. Do you guys treat torque wrenches like precision instruments or is that just overkill for a wrench that gets used once a week?

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amyh2125d ago

That shop owner is smart honestly. Torque wrenches drift out of spec if you drop em or bang em around in a drawer, especially the click types. One solid knock on the handle and your 80 ft lbs could be 70 or 90 and youd never know until something strips or snaps. I worked with a guy who kept his in the foam case with the little plastic guard on and still got it recalibrated every year, and even then he wrote the date on the handle with a sharpie. Locking them up is maybe a bit much for a home garage but for a shop where people borrow stuff constantly it makes total sense. At minimum you should store it on a shelf not bouncing around with every other tool.