Photo: Getty Images. ... (turned backward) and Channellock pliers. A well-trained craftsperson would use a set of closed-end wrenches followed by a torque wrench.

The granddaddy of modern wrenches, an open-ended wrench may have been in the tool collections of some ancient ancestors, who ...

Six-point (with six corners in the closed-end wrench head rather than 12) is ideal, especially when applying maximum torque to a fastner and minimizing the threat of rounding off the bolt.