Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

In general few bother with them these days since deep sockets are so
readily available.

I recently needed a box spanner (gold-coloured thin metal) where a
chrome-vanadium socket wouldn't have done was when taking a bathroom
basin tap apart to get at the seat, re-grind and fit a refurb kit. I
'real' socket would have been too large externally. Luckily, I found an
old spark plug spanner (21mm for the tap) and 19mm at the other end.
Using thin metal rods through it just bent them, so I used the Haynes
classic "2 opposing nuts on a bolt" trick at the 19mm end with a big
adjustable spanner. Just the job!