I want one of these lock windlasses ! ! !

[Justin Smith]

On ‎08‎/‎06‎/‎2018 at 13:02, Justin Smith said:

If they are tapered (including the welded type which are possibly more common ? ) then obviously the contact surface area would be much greater. That said, many people use open ended spanners and for most things they`re OK, particularly for square nuts much torque can be safely used. Ring spanners are capable of accepting even more torque without damaging the nut, and that`s a hexagonal nut don`t forget. The open frame type windlass is effectively two ring spanners one above the other, i.e. double the contact area of a plain ring spanner.

I just got a vernier on my welded type box (spanner type) windlass, also "Walshes", and can confirm it is tapered. More accurately the smaller box is tapered, the larger one not so, just like the skeleton open frame type in fact.