A new ratchet wrench has a slide gear that is laterally enclosed within the head. Shoulders on the slide gear are curved and outwardly flanked by a single recess. The distance from the top of the shoulder to the base of the recess is no more than half the difference between the outside diameter and the root diameter of the teeth on the ratchet. Those teeth have essentially planar faces, top lands that traverse at least one quarter of the pitch, and bottom lands that extend continuously from the faces, have essentially constant radius, and traverse at least one quarter of the pitch. A pin projects out the back and enables a user to shift the wrench between clockwise and counterclockwise ratcheting. All cavities for the ratcheting assembly are recessed from the face in an arrangement that can be machined in a single set-up on a computer-controlled vertical mill.