If you’ve just bought your first home and haven’t had to deal with a lot of tools around your apartment, one of the things you’ll want for your first well stocked tool box is a basic socket set. Even if you have never been one to do a lot of ‘do it yourself projects ‘ a new home will give you ample opportunity to learn how to do small little task that come up. A basic socket wrench set will save you a lot of money over time rather than spending a lot on a number of adjustable wrenches and dozens of drivers. You will soon see the advantages of having one in your tool box along with your screw drivers, hammers, and pliers.

The most common nut you will find around the house is the six sided hex nut. It is everywhere: when assembling furniture, shelving, cribs, strollers, and most everything that comes with assembly required. Having a socket set handy and in your tool box will save you a lot time and effort, and take the headache out of most assembly jobs. The six sided hex nut comes in a variety of sizes. They can be small, medium, large, extra large, and in small increments in between. You’ll need a socket wrench set to cover the whole gambit of sizes of nuts you will run into.

The best way to start is with the basic 40 piece hex socket set. These come with a variety of socket sizes measured in both inches (SAE) and metric millimeters and fit most of the common nuts you’ll encounter. They come with ratchet wrench handles that you snap the socket to, and will have a button or a knob that you use to change direction so you can go clockwise putting nuts on, and counter clock wise to remove nuts. The handle allows you to keep your nut in the socket and on the screw or bolt. It has an effortless cranking action in either direction. This is particularly useful when you are in tight spaces. The handle can have ratcheting action in either direction you are going, clockwise or counter clockwise, and has a release mechanism that allows you an easy pumping action whether you are putting on or taking off nuts.

Socket sets are not hard to understand or use and are more helpful than having a large number of wrenches or nut drivers of varying sizes in your tool box. Your will soon see their advantage. It won’t take long until you are eyeballing a nut and find the exact fit you want in the socket set. You don’t need to be especially muscular to tighten and remove nuts or bolts with these, and you will soon find yourself grateful that you have them in your home.