What is this tool for?
 

My dad gave me his '76 Raleigh Grand Prix, as well as his old toolkit from the day. Inside is this piece, but I'm not quite sure what it is. For a long time I thought it was half of what might be a chain breaker, but now I'm thinking it's a spoke wrench. If so, why the hexagonal shape?http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/3083/107il.jpg

I would guess it was made from hexagonal bar stock.

It is a spoke wrench, and not a particularly good one.

Yep. Spoke wrench. I got one like that. I rounded off dozens of nipples with it before I got a better one. That's what a spoke wrench that was sold to consumers looked like in that time period.

I had one in fact still have it when I was a kid some 40+ years ago fits the time 1970's

Yes, I've built a number of wheels with a spoke wrench that looked just like that.

My favorite : rixen and kaul's spokey .. is better, its the difference
between an open end wrench and a brake line wrench .
[auto repair tools]
as It grips 3 sides of the 4 sided spoke nipple.

I have one that i used to use all the time. It was a little tighter than similar ones and didn't round off nipple too often.

Especially if you put a spanner on the hexagonal flats to turn it!

I used to buy those at K-Mart when I was younger. Like most kids, I turned plenty of usable wheels that were mildly out of true into egg-shaped disasters. But hey - all the spokes were plenty tight..:rolleyes:

I carried an English Cyclo spoke wrench that resembles yours in the watch pocket of every pair of jeans I owned for many years. It was raw steel, polished by my pants and oiled by my fingers. It fit spoke nipples well and trued many, many wheels before I lost it, probably to a washing machine, years ago. I couldn't find a replacement until I was given two new-old-stock ones last year at Trexlertown by a kind vendor. Before then, I had (still have) a Park green one. A fine tool, but soulless. I never looked twice at all the cheesy Cyclo knock-offs, although I had to use them from time to time.

I've built several wheels recently using the Cyclo. The feel against my thumb and forefinger of the levers is as evocative as a smell from childhood.

Pffft. Spanners are for light work. Need a 3' pipe wrench or a breaker bar to torque it right! :)

You've seen me at work! LOL!

Yes, it's a spoke wrench. Coincidentally, my Dad also has a Raleigh of the same era with the same toolkit.