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8 point sockets

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mjuran

New User
So a stupid question here, Ive read that 8 point sockets work on square headed nuts & bolts. Problem Im having is I can only find 6 and 12 point socket sets, my question is would a 12 point socket work on a square head? OR does anybody know where I can find 8 point sockets?? My dad had a set of square sockets but when he passed away 10 years ago they must of gotten lost in the shuffle.
 
Sears used to sell them in-store. Now I only see them online.

12 point sockets may work, but they don't really fit properly; you risk rounding a fastener if they are stuck tight.
 

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(quoted from post at 15:44:38 12/29/20) Ok, I'll check out the Sears site to shop around for 8 point sockets, thanks for advice
Click to expand...

(Sears) Craftsman 8-point sockets are cheap on ebay. Many other brands are available there, too.

Snap-on sells really nice flank-drive 8 point sockets, but I don't use them enough to need those... maybe if I was working on priceless antiques.
 
Ive never seen a set of 8 or 4 point sockets sold as such. However years ago I bought individual 4 point sockets from a traveling Proto Tool salesman in every size they had and put them on a socket rail and still have them. Thev have proven very useful over the years.

12 points will sometimes sorta fit but tend to slip if much torque is applied, rounding off the points.
 
12 point fit on some sizes well and others not as good. As others have said, socket for squares are out there, just need to search for them. I have a set of Craftsman 8 points. They came in a set with a bunch of other sockets.
 
I use a 12 point on square heads all the time never had a problem use a good socket and you’ll be fine if you get one that will not come heat it red hot then let it cool
 
An 8 point socket contacts more of the flat side of the nut. If you have a stubborn nut or one that is slightly undersized you are less likely to round off the corners. A twelve point works most of the time but sometimes those old square nuts were undersized due to substandard quality control back in those days. Twelve point sockets were not common back in those days so the manufacturer could get by being a little sloppy with sizing nut and bolt heads.
 
Check Fleabay for your 8 point sockets. Many times one can find sets from 3/8 inch to 15/16 inch or so. That is where I bought mine.
 
The original question was if a 12 point would work on square nuts and bolts, not taps. I agree with the fact a 12 point will only "sort of" work on a tap but not well, that's why I use the correct tool for taps.
 
As J Hamilton's picture shows, a 12 point will fit on a square nut but it grips the corners not the flats. This increases the chances of rounding it off especially if you're working on something old and rusty.
 
I was all set to throw out a 9/16 eight point socket after grabbing it so many times and trying it on a hex nut- I even ground off the size from the side of it. Then, one day, looking at the socket it was like one of those weird posters with the 3-D image, the square shape just jumped out at me! I found four or five of them in the socket drawer in different sizes.
 
Dcarp,

You found my post. The poster is still looking?
There are hundreds of sockets out there for square a recessed pipe plugs,

Guido.
 
When I was looking for a quality truck brand set on eBay I did not have much luck until I used the phrase "double square" socket set.
 
Used to be called set screw sockets. Then it changed to 8pt set screw sockets. The last change they did away with set screw and just called them 8pt sockets.

I used them all the time back in the early seventies working on looms in a cotton mill. Also had heavy Billings & Williams set screw wrenches. Back then both were made special and were actually softer than regular wrenches or sockets. Reason being the set screws are case hardened and will ruin regular tool steel quickly.
 
Thank you all for the advice, I'm armed with some valuable information. I'll check some of the above sites mentioned and look up a local tool dealer to get my hands on a 8 point set of sockets for my projects. Much appreciated
 

If they are tite, then just break em loose with an end wrench and then go to the socket. If you can't get an end wrench on one then try a crowfoot end wrench to break it loose.
 
I was told once that there was a company that manufactured farm equipment called Gale, may have been spelled different but not Gehl. They made their own bolts and wrenches, not SAE or metric. They figured that when you bought a machine from them you would also buy their bolts and wrenches.

They didn't stay in business very long.


Dusty
 
Many years ago I bought a set of Metrinches when they were advertised on TV. I have a couple other socket sets that I use occasionally when I do some little 5 minute job but when I work on my tractors I mostly break out this set.

It doesn't care whether a nut or bolt is metric, sae, round or square head. It has a socket that will fit it. As you can see by the close up pic, it works on the flat sides of a nut, not on the points. It will also work on badly rounded off (by some other idiot) nuts.

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I got a set of 8 point Williams sockets from McMaster-Carr a couple of years ago. www.mcmaster.com
 
(quoted from post at 12:11:47 12/31/20) Many years ago I bought a set of Metrinches when they were advertised on TV. I have a couple other socket sets that I use occasionally when I do some little 5 minute job but when I work on my tractors I mostly break out this set.

It doesn't care whether a nut or bolt is metric, sae, round or square head. It has a socket that will fit it. As you can see by the close up pic, it works on the flat sides of a nut, not on the points. It will also work on badly rounded off (by some other idiot) nuts.
Click to expand...

I remember those. Always wanted a set but I was just a kid, it was before the Internet, and I didn't have a credit card anyway.

They mostly rely on the fact that MOST metric and inch sizes are very close. There are very few inch nuts that a metric wrench won't fit, and vice versa. In many cases the metric wrench fits the inch bolt better, and the inch wrench fits the metric bolt better. For example, 15/16 and 24mm are just about perfectly interchangeable. 7/8 and 22mm, 3/4 and 19mm just to name a few.
 
They were pretty common when square nuts were popular (1940's era). I bought a set of Snap On 1/2 drive 8 point sockets 25 or so years ago at an auction. These sockets are around if you look hard enough.
 
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