Crowbar

NEKS · Nov 30, 2015

How did that name for a pry bar come to be? Remember as a kid helping dad and he would yell go get the crow bar. Was it a bar of a certain size? Also heard of a rock bar, so what size was it.

Bob · Nov 30, 2015

You don't suppose the "claw" reminded someone of the front "toes" on the foot of a crow, do you?

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Goose · Nov 30, 2015

I don't know, but in the Marine Corps we'd occasionally refer to someone as, "the kind of guy who could screw up a crow bar".

CGID · Nov 30, 2015

The name goes back to the 1400's and may refer to the resemblance of the splayed end to a crow's foot or it may go back to Old French where "cros" was plural for "hook".

Steve@Advance · Nov 30, 2015

Always heard them called "crow bar" or "wrecking bar". About as strange a name as a "crows foot" socket. How does that resemble a crows foot? LOL

A rock bar was a different tool. It is about 5 ft long, straight solid heavy bar with a blunt point on one end, a small spade on the other. It was used for busting up, and prying up concrete or rocks. Not a fun tool to use!

unc · Nov 30, 2015

I've always called the one with a bend a wrecking bar, or gooseneck. A crow bar is the straight one. As an old volunteer fireman, I always said the fastest way to get a car or building open, is to give a 5' crowbar to a 6' farmer!

D beatty · Dec 1, 2015

I have a 6 foot straight bar that came off the railroad and it is called a pinch bar.

Dusty MI · Dec 1, 2015

(quoted from post at 22:10:01 11/30/15) I've always called the one with a bend a wrecking bar, or gooseneck. A crow bar is the straight one. As an old volunteer fireman, I always said the fastest way to get a car or building open, is to give a 5' crowbar to a 6' farmer!

X2 Though never a gooseneck.

hd6gtom · Dec 1, 2015

picture is a wrecking bar -*- crow bar is 5 or 6 foot long sometimes pointed on 1 end with the other end hammered out to a flattened wedge.

TGIN · Dec 1, 2015

Here in s.e. Indiana the four foot gooseneck and shorter bars are called crowbars. Any long straight bar is a spud bar. The reason why is cause dad said so!

Donald Lehman · Dec 1, 2015

I just call em all crowbars. Saves time and saves confusing this old mind. The only thing the kids have to ask is : How big?

jeffcat · Dec 1, 2015

Don't forget wrecking bar. Could also be named for the use you put it to.

ss55 · Dec 1, 2015

There is a bar next to the Little Crow river called "The Crow Bar", does that count?

Stan in Oly, WA · Dec 1, 2015

According to Wikipedia and Google, what they're called depends on where you live. In Britain those tools are called what you said, but in America it's the opposite---the bar with the hook is called a crow bar, a straight bar is called a wrecking bar or any one of a number of other things. The Wikipedia article said that American television in England has had a strong enough influence that now they often refer to the bar with a hook as a crowbar there, too.

In a case like this, I don't think there is one true answer---just local preference.

Stan

farmboy48 · Dec 3, 2015

When I was a lad, some sixty years ago, I used to hang out at the local blacksmith shop. One day he was tapering the end of a 5 foot by 1 inch piece of steel, I asked what he was doing. He replied "making a crowbar". after tapering it, he heated the other end in the forge, hammered it square with the trip hammer, and drilled a hole in that end. Again I asked "why". He said it was to put a rope thru to tie to your waist and then when you dropped it into the water while chipping ice to water cows in crick the rope would catch it. One other thing I remember, he was a mean drunk.

Charles in Aus. · Dec 4, 2015

In Australia , or at least Victoria the Crow bar is a six foot long round or hexagonal bar used for digging and shifting , the S shaped bar is a pinch bar , sometimes called a pry bar or Jemmy .
This explanation from a treatise on Etymology may help.

The word crow in this sense first appears in writing about 1400 in this quote: "... werke-men..Putten prises Þer-to..Kaghtene by Þe corners wt crowes of yrne ("workmen put prises thereto, caught by the corners with crows of iron").

ObsoElitist · Dec 4, 2015

(quoted from post at 21:18:37 11/30/15)

A rock bar was a different tool. It is about 5 ft long, straight solid heavy bar with a blunt point on one end, a small spade on the other. It was used for busting up, and prying up concrete or rocks. Not a fun tool to use!

My Dad calls it a "digging bar". I keep one in the truck I use to haul and recover old vehicles. It's handy for prying on wheels to steer vehicles missing steering parts, getting blocks under things, etc. Inwont leave home without it.
Here in gold mining country they are common, and most are made from hexagonal drill steels..

sotxbill · Dec 4, 2015

crow bar has a flatten end and a groove cut in it so it looks like a crows foot. End is then curved almost 90 degrees to get leverage. Used for pulling nails, spikes and prying.

Other end has a minor bend in and flatten wedged, with or without crows foot notch. for prying.

The crows foot is for grabbing things, the wedge for prying. Carpenters hammers also have a crows foot.

Rock bar... long bar, heavy, for dropping on rocks... one end pointed for creating a crack and other end wedged to exploit the crack. Used to break up rocks and the leverage them out.

Crowbar

NEKS

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Bob

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Goose

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CGID

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Steve@Advance

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unc

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D beatty

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Dusty MI

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hd6gtom

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TGIN

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Donald Lehman

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jeffcat

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ss55

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Stan in Oly, WA

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farmboy48

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Charles in Aus.

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ObsoElitist

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sotxbill

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