Proper use The adjustable spanner Proper use section of this article still seems to be self contradictory I found one discussion that has some physics based arguments that I found pretty persuasive One commenter says that the preferred way to use a pipe wrench is the opposite direction from the preferred way to use an adjustable wrench which may explain why so many people disagree on the proper direction to turn it Norm Abram in Adjustable Wrench implies that unlike a basin wrench an adjustable wrench often works adequately even when turned the wrong way such as when doing the flip trick This may also contribute to why so many people disagree on the proper direction to turn it What exactly is the advantage of turning it the right way versus the wrong way Too often I hear that turning it the wrong way is more likely to round off the corners without any more details but I prefer an explanation that would make it possible to work out from first principles which way is the right way I wouldn t be surprised to discover that there are advantages to each direction