making my own deck wrecker

[c66miller87]

I am planning to replace my deck boards on my deck and i want to build my own deck wrecker. I have and old pry bar that i plan to use and some pipe. But i am wondering if welding the pry bar to the pipe will make the pry bar too brittle to use. Any advise?


here is a link to what i want to make
http://www.sears.com/catspaw-deck-wrecker/p-00981139000P

 

[Trucky]

To pull up deck boards? It shouldn't be too weak to do what you'll be using it for.

If anything, a decent weld should make it plenty strong enough, and definitely not more brittle if done correctly.

I'd like to see what you're making it out of, however.

 

[Ryf]

cool idea, are you looking to just sleeve it or? I would worry more about what you make the long part out of, the odds of you making something that wont want to bend that you can stand to use for a few hours might be rough. about the brittle thing, tempered steel is a mess to weld, all you can do is try it and see, you need to quench it to keep it hard, but too hard its brittle, so if anyone with experience with that can probably help you.

if you know of a truck axle around you can use the axle shafts and it will be super tough, but heavy, heavy being good since it sits on the beam and gives it more momentum.

I would maybe buy two flat prybar and bolt the claw part on, and save yourself the headache of the tempering issue and weld the rest. neat project either way, interested in seeing what you come up with.

 

[racingtadpole]

I made one similar, about 4ft or so of water pipe and an old crow bar. Initially I just cut the hook end off the bar, and put it into the pipe and welded around the end. What I found was that the extension flexes, which is unavoidable, and works on the weld causing the pipe to crack where it was welded. Fixed that by grinding the corners off the hex of the bar a bit, and stuffing the bar further into the pipe. Welded around the end of the pipe and put a couple of rosette welds a couple of inches further back up the pipe. That stopped the cracking.

Thought about welding a T handle on, but never got that far.