Black and grey shaded tattoo of an adjustable spanner crossed with a screwdriver on the outer forearm, below a rolled checked shirt sleeve.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Spanner and screwdriver tattoo on a forearm

Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

The tattoo shows an adjustable spanner crossed over a screwdriver, with the spanner's jaws and knurled grip drawn in detail. Soft grey shading gives the metal a rounded, three-dimensional look against the skin. The design sits on the outer forearm near the elbow, with the wearer's shirt sleeve rolled up above it and a green wall behind.

Forearm

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Take it to an artist as a reference. A good artist will make it yours rather than copy someone else's tattoo.

A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Sit down, lad, and stop staring at the gauges like they owe you money. Forty days out from Montevideo the feed pump on the port boiler started knocking, and the captain wanted it quiet by the morning watch. I had a spanner in my hand before I'd finished swearing.

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That spanner was my father's. He was a fitter at the Govan yards and he bought it off a man who'd lost a thumb to it, so the jaws have a bit of a bite to them. You set it to the nut, turn the knurled wheel with your thumb, and you never trust it for one minute. Half the trouble on any ship is men who trust their tools too much. The other half is men who don't trust them at all.

So there I was, wedged between the boiler casing and a grease drum, with the screwdriver in my teeth because the mate had taken the lamp. The gland was seized solid. I worked the flat blade into the packing one thread at a time, the way you'd pick a lock, and the ship rolled under us and gave me the room I needed. By four bells the knock had gone quiet. The captain came down with his cap pushed back and asked how long it would hold. I told him as long as we did.

The spanner went back in its canvas roll with the screwdriver beside it. Forty years, and I never once threw either over the side, though plenty of men would have. Here, take the screwdriver. Mind the point, it's been sharpened more than I have. And when she starts talking to you in the dark, don't wait for the captain. Go and listen.