How to Tighten or Loosen a Bolt If You Don’t Have the Right Wrench

So you’re stuck in a highly frustrating situation where you really need to unscrew a bolt but the wrench you have is the wrong size.

You don’t have one of those handy adjustable wrenches (you should probably get one), so what do you do? 

Isn’t it obvious? You’re going to fashion a makeshift wrench from a nut and bolt! This is actually one of the smartest tricks I’ve seen in a while.

Hold the extra bolt horizontally over the bolt in question and then just screw on the nut until you have a nice tight grip on that annoying first bolt. Instant wrench!

Then you can use your incorrectly-sized wrench as a lever or handle so that you can unscrew to your heart’s content without hurting your fingers. But, of course, this trick can also work if you don’t have any wrenches at all.

What did I tell you? Pure genius!

This quick video from Reddit perfectly demonstrates this wonderful little trick. It’s all in Spanish, but don’t worry, you don’t actually have to understand what’s being said in order to grasp what’s going on.