The stems and handles of socket spanners are made of round iron or steel, and separate from the socket portions. The socket portion of the spanner consists of a tubular piece which is attached to the stem by welding its end in the socket-hole. This socket piece may be an end of a thick tube, if such a piece can be obtained with a hole of proper diameter. The socket may be made also by punching a hole through a solid piece, and drifting the hole to a proper shape and size; this produces a good socket if the metal is solid. The convenient mode of making a socket of an iron or soft steel bar, consists in curving to a circular form one end of a bar which is about as thick as the intended socket, and welding the two ends together by means of a sort of scarf-joint termed a lap-joint. Such a joint is made by tapering both the ends that are to be welded together, and curving the socket piece until its hole is about three-quarters of its finished diameter, which allows the socket to be stretched with welding to its proper diameter. After a socket is made by either of these means, its hole is shaped with a steel six-sided drift which is of the same shape and thickness as the required socket-hole. One end of the socket is next heated and upset, to make it thicker and larger in diameter than the remainder, at which time it appears as in Fig. 581, being then ready for welding to the stem.

The preparation of the stem consists in thickening one end by upsetting, and shaping it to a six-sided form to fit the socket-hole. A stem thus shaped is denoted by Fig. 582; and the thick part is made to fit tight in the hole, that it may be easily handled and welded in that situation. The length of the part which is in immediate contact with the enlarged end of the hole is about half of the socket's length, and while the two are together a welding heat is given them, and they are welded with a couple of angular-gap tools while the socket is between. During this welding, the tools are in contact with only that part which contains the end of the stem, in order that the hole may not be made much smaller by the hammering. This welding reduces the thick part of the socket to the same diameter as the thinner part, and also lengthens the bearing of the stem in the hole.

The final shaping of the socket, after it is properly attached to the stem, is accomplished by trimming off superfluous metal to make the socket to a proper length, and smoothly finishing the hole with a six-sided filler. This filler is parallel, and is carefully made so that it shall be the precise thickness and shape of the finished hole, being tapered a short distance at the point, that it may enter easily into the hole when necessary. The extremity of the part which is in the hole is smoothly shaped and curved, for smoothing the bottom of the socket hole. This smoothing is effected by heating that part of the socket and hammering the end of the stem while the filler is in the hole and touches its bottom. To conveniently hammer the stem, the filler is put into the hole, and the outer end of the filler is then put to the floor with the socket-stem extending upwards, the filler resting on a soft iron block or lead block, whose top is level with the floor; while thus arranged, the upper end of the stem is hammered and the bottom of the hole is shaped. A filler of this class, in the hole of a socket, is represented by Fig. 583. Through such a filler being nearly .or quite parallel along a great part of its length, it cannot be released from any socket after being once hammered in, without heating it and enlarging the hole enough to let out the filler with pulling in a vice, or similar means.

The handle-end of the stem for a socket spanner is provided with a hole, if to be used with a separate lever, or provided with a tee-handle, if to be rotated by such means; and if the spanner has a bent stem, constituting a handle which is at right angles to the length of the socket, the stem is heated to make the bend in the right place, after all the joint-making is completed.

If a socket spanner is not to be lathe-turned, it is necessary to carefully reduce the work to a proper shape and dimensions while on the anvil; but if to be turned, a proper amount of metal is allowed, that the socket may not be too thin. A socket spanner is turned while its handle-end is supported on the mandril pivot of a lathe, and its socket part is supported on a broad conical pivot, which is large enough to bear on the edges of the hole's mouth. By this method, the socket is accurately turned so that one side shall be just as thick as the opposite side, and if the entire length of the socket were forged parallel to the drift while in the hole, the entire outer surface of the socket when turned will be also parallel with the hole.