What is this Vintage Tool?!

[Filly]

I bought this at a garage sale for $3 a few years back, I use it to break the ice build-up off my driveway (MN+Heated garage=lots of ice)

I’ve always wondered what this tool actually is? Pinch point bar? Ice chisel?
There are some makers marks but I can’t find anything similar online, one end is stamped L and the other R (left/right?)
It’s solid steel, pretty heavy, probably weights around 20-30lbs

 

[4xdog]

Looks like a pry bar as used by a machinery rigger.

I have a similar one from my grandfather, from when he worked on projects like this in the 1930s-1940s.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Looks like a double anchor stamp on one end (makers mark?). One end is pointed and the other flat, so can be used for lining up holes or prying. Certainly looks like a really big lineup prybar.

 

[wrenchguy]

almost looks 2be verona tool, using 2 separate character stamps.

 

[Filly]

Looks like a double anchor stamp on one end (makers mark?). One end is pointed and the other flat, so can be used for lining up holes or prying. Certainly looks like a really big lineup prybar.

Correct, I was hoping someone would recognize the makers mark...

It has the following marks:
34 (weight maybe?)
R
STEEL
23 (Manf. Date?)
️

L

 

[ShadowBoxer]

Certainly looks like a really big lineup prybar.

First thing that came to my mind too.

Could "34" be a size/length indication?
I can see having different sizes and a bunch of them sitting in a pile or a bucket. You just sort through to find the one you need at the moment.
Just a thought.

 

[DenisG]

"Spud bar" for me, but more commonly a "digging bar":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digging_bar

 

[RTM]

My FIL used to call them spud bars too (GE turbine service group). I have a digging bar that is far too soft for prying work, starts to flex under medium rocks. But it has mass to it, just drop it into a hole to create depth.

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

We used something similar to that when fencing for cattle pasture. Mind you my dad did but I as in charge of having the tools ready when he needed it. Manual auger and it came in handy for busting up small stones or enlarging the hole if the picket was over sized.
Sort of thing for the when men were men thread.

 

[Filly]

We used something similar to that when fencing for cattle pasture. Mind you my dad did but I as in charge of having the tools ready when he needed it. Manual auger and it came in handy for busting up small stones or enlarging the hole if the picket was over sized.
Sort of thing for the when men were men thread.

I recall the older gentleman hosting the garage sale say that he used it for busting up stones when digging in his yard as the land had a lot of gravel... I don’t doubt with the weight of this thing that a guy could bust up some stones. After about 30-45 mins of breaking up Ice with it my arms start to feel like jello! (Beats going to the gym though) cant imagine lifting it all day long!!

 

[pelletman]

I know it as a digging bar, I have moved lots of machines and seen lots moved, never saw a rigger using one but it looks like it could be useful in that application

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

I know it as a digging bar, I have moved lots of machines and seen lots moved, never saw a rigger using one but it looks like it could be useful in that application

I dad originally worked as an rough neck on the oil rigs before he went farming. It was probably part of his retirement package.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

So he got the shaft?

 

[ShadowBoxer]

ha ha, great one.

 

[Copymutt]

If not for the alignment spud, we called em Go Devils.

 

[ttpete]

The 1912 Buhl catalog shows that as being a railroad lining bar. It's used for aligning rails and general prying.

 

[four.cycle]

1915 C.M. McClung Co. hardware catalog pp 107

 

[didit]

I have a spud similar but even heavier, that I inherited from my grandfather. I've used it as a pry bar for moving rocks, slabs of concrete and even tied 50' of rope on it and used it for ice fishing. I don't recall ever looking for markings on it, now I'm curious.
I call mine "THE BEAST".

 

[Stuart in MN]

I don't know that those sorts of bars were necessarily marketed for a single purpose. They were good for whatever needed prying. My dad had one similar to the picture in the first post, and it got used for all sorts of jobs.

 

[ken w.]

Here in the Buffalo area where the the steel plats were you can find these quite often. I think most were taken home. We use to have two of these that my grandfather had. We also called them spud bars. One time my father took me ice fishing out on Lake Erie when I was @ 8 years old. I had to carry that bar with us. I had a hard time being that small. We started making a hole in the ice with it. Then it was my turn. When I finally got through the ice I dropped it and it went into the bottom of the lake. The old man kicked my *** all the way to shore. He never took me again. I still have the other bar.

 

[four.cycle]

I don't know that those sorts of bars were necessarily marketed for a single purpose. They were good for whatever needed prying.

I own two of them. One is about an inch in diameter and about 5 feet long, the other one longer and almost two inches in diameter. They've been used for everything from busting up concrete to prying up stumps to rolling logs over when I couldn't get enough leverage with a peevee.

 

[didit]

Here in the Buffalo area where the the steel plats were you can find these quite often. I think most were taken home. We use to have two of these that my grandfather had. We also called them spud bars. One time my father took me ice fishing out on Lake Erie when I was @ 8 years old. I had to carry that bar with us. I had a hard time being that small. We started making a hole in the ice with it. Then it was my turn. When I finally got through the ice I dropped it and it went into the bottom of the lake. The old man kicked my *** all the way to shore. He never took me again. I still have the other bar.

At least you didn't have to carry it all the way back to shore.