I broke a very expensive fork steer tube because I used the stem torque specs and a torque wrench on the stem pinch bolts. Without the torque wrench I would not have used so much torque. My intuitions told me that I was applying a lot of torque, but I was in a hurry, and after all I had specs.

Lessons learned: 1) a torque wrench is good to use as long as you use the correct specs. The torque specification on the stem is a limit for the stem. 2) 5 nm is more than enough for a carbon fiber steer tube.

A 1/4 inch drive beam wrench is good to have for working with CF parts.

There must be several torque wrench threads in the archives with lots of pros and cons arguments. Try the search function.

Al