pry bars.

[creatureofthewheel]

tryin to get some feedback on pry bars yall. I've made do with my ten incher but its time for me to sack up and get a quality set. your opinions please!

 

[Lyaec350]

I've made do with my ten incher

Some of us wish we were that lucky...


Just kidding. Anyway, the Craftsman Pro's are a very nice set for the price, otherwise you can go with Snappy or Mayhew and not ever feel bad about it.

 

[Honda 1]

I have the Craftsman Pro's and they are very nice. I purchased them during one of the Craftsman Club sales.
Also, The Craftsman Pro's look very similar to the Mayhew pry bars. Were probably made for C'man by Mayhew.

 

[knuckleduster271]

I honestly have had good luck with the set i got from harbor freight, Ive put all my weight [all 155 lbs of it anyways] on the biggest one and its not even bent yet. Ive bought some tools at harbor that break, and others that seem to be fair quality. I only gave $6.99 for the set and i figured they wouldnt last but ive used them alot and they seem to hold up decent.

 

[strizzy]

Craftsman Pros/Non. I have the non-pros, love them. I didn't think I needed the largest one, but soon found out that it was handy for breaking ball joints on control arms. The non-pros can be had for $20 on sale, worth every penny. The Pros have striking caps, handy feature.

 

[blue302stang]

I have the Cman pro and love them. Couldn't pass up the price and quality of them, boss was mad because he just spent $200 for a set of 4 cornwell's

 

[SteveU]

I have the OTC 3 pc set and 36" & 42" Mayhews which are all good quality. When they came my 3 yr old was carrying the Mayhews around & the wife was afraid she would break them, told the wife they wouldn't break but would break something else pretty easy though.

 

[SVT WUT 7]

I have Snap-On......work well for me.

 

[gotmud13613]

I have an asst of HF, C-Man Pro & non Pro, The HF tend to flex a bit and i hit one with a mallet and the handle split but i epoxied it back together and it's still holding on . The C-Man pros are nice if you gotta rap on them with a hammer.

 

[creatureofthewheel]

do any of them have round or ergo-ish grips? also are pry bars designed to pivot on the chisel point, or the bend behind it?

 

[Sack]

Here's an old thread where most folks were saying Mayhew. http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-1334.html

 

[Chris Adams]

I honestly have had good luck with the set i got from harbor freight, Ive put all my weight [all 155 lbs of it anyways] on the biggest one and its not even bent yet. Ive bought some tools at harbor that break, and others that seem to be fair quality. I only gave $6.99 for the set and i figured they wouldnt last but ive used them alot and they seem to hold up decent.

The black handle set?
I've put 225 lbs on the second from the largest. Bounced a few times and it bent a little, but sprang straight after.

Don't know what makes one sell for 20 times what I paid for mine 15 years ago.

When I break one, or bend one maybe I will 'upgrade'.
But how to break it?
Ten foot cheater pipe?

 

[knuckleduster271]

The black handle set?
I've put 225 lbs on the second from the largest. Bounced a few times and it bent a little, but sprang straight after.

Don't know what makes one sell for 20 times what I paid for mine 15 years ago.

When I break one, or bend one maybe I will 'upgrade'.
But how to break it?
Ten foot cheater pipe?

They sell a central forge set that has a 90 day warranty then they have a pittsburgh set that carries a lifetime which are the one i have. mine have black handles

 

[byrd]

hf prybars=junk, give em away. one will fail and you or someone will get hurt. when a prybar breaks think of the force you are putting on it, and the positions you sometimes find yourself in. c'mans are ok. my cornwells were a good investment. HF-garbage, c'man-home, corny's-work.

 

[knuckleduster271]

hf prybars=junk, give em away. one will fail and you or someone will get hurt. when a prybar breaks think of the force you are putting on it, and the positions you sometimes find yourself in. c'mans are ok. my cornwells were a good investment. HF-garbage, c'man-home, corny's-work.

Are you speaking from experience Or is it just because they are cheap to buy? I have bought some harbor fright [lol] tools that are junk, but i have bought some that work great and stand up to heavy abuse. IMO their sockets are junk, Ive never bought any but i used a set once and broke two of em. Ive went through three of their angle die grinders in two months. But i havnt had any probs with the pry bars or my $20 sawzall thats been to hell and back. I dont buy alot from there but these two things have held up well.

 

[Uncle Buck]

I bought my Snappys in the early 90's years before Sears or most others aside from the trucks offered them; I swapped one due to a broken tip and also a cracked handle (nope never pounded on) yes I got my usual premium warranty exchange the Snappy man he gave me a used black handle to go along with the rest of my orange 4pc set that I had bought new! I lucked out, one of the shop mechanics at work got pissed cause I was bad mouthing Mr Snappy for how he warrantied me and how I was ticked that I now had a mismatched set so he swapped me a good orange handle in the same size as what I needed for the black handle I had (he told me that he would break the black handle and get a brand new orange handle to replace it from Mr snappy!) yup, great warranty my ***! I also have a set of the cheaper red handled Craftsman pry bars without the striking cap that have given me good service too. I must admit I still like my old **** warranty Snappys the best though.(great tools $hit warranty!)

 

[JeepsAreBuilt]

I have Mayhews.. they are lifetime.. and they have a metal cap for striking

Well, at least mine do, with a soft grip. If I had SO or something.. I'd fear I'd break the handle If i hammered on it. However.. I have use my SO trim panel tool as a chisel w/o problems

 

[eschoendorff]

I have the Craftsman Pro's and they are very nice. I purchased them during one of the Craftsman Club sales.
Also, The Craftsman Pro's look very similar to the Mayhew pry bars. Were probably made for C'man by Mayhew.

Lots of truth with the Craftsman Pro bars. In fact, I dare you to find a better value in an American-made prybar. Really. I dare you.

 

[PoorOwner]

Craftsman regular 3 piece set sometimes on sale for $20.. The pros look very nice though but I can't justify 2x the cost after having the regular already..


At the regular price there is only $10 difference tho that is a no brainer , get the pro..

 

[garfunkle24]

I have both Snap-On and Mac prybars and overall i prefer the Snap-ons. I like being able to beat on the end of the Mac ones but for their primary purpose (prying!) i prefer the Snap-On. It seems the Mac bars flex a lot, but I work on big Ag equipment so this might not be as bad for some guys. I just prefer the handle and stiffness of the Snap-On, but they're both good bars and probably both overpriced.

 

[garfunkle24]

Also we have a local seller who sells OTC prybars. A few techs i know have these and really like them and they were less than half the cost of Snap-On. I think they have the striking end too.

 

[nissan_crawler]

hf prybars=junk, give em away. one will fail and you or someone will get hurt. when a prybar breaks think of the force you are putting on it, and the positions you sometimes find yourself in. c'mans are ok. my cornwells were a good investment. HF-garbage, c'man-home, corny's-work.

Highly doubtful. I've bent two HF prybars, and by a fair amount, but they weren't close to failing. Both of them have been straightened, and bent again since then, without any sign of breaking.

 

[Chris Adams]

hf prybars=junk, give em away. one will fail and you or someone will get hurt. when a prybar breaks think of the force you are putting on it, and the positions you sometimes find yourself in. c'mans are ok. my cornwells were a good investment. HF-garbage, c'man-home, corny's-work.

Um, no one will 'get hurt' if one of my pry bars fail.
I've been using tools for 50 years, and strangely, have never been hurt when a tool failed.

Skinned a knuckle the other day when an oil filter collapsed, but it wasn't the fault of the tool, just the filter.

I don't drink and wrench, I don't ever get in a super hurry, not since I was about 16 anyway and I use common sense with tools.

About every accident I witnessed in more than a half century of watching people work on cars involved alcohol. A few involved being in a super hurry, and usually for no good reason. Guys hurrying on the line break a few tools but I never saw one get hurt by tool failure.

The rest involved monumental stupidity, which I describe as someone doing something dangerous that they were just warned against;
Like telling the guy not to make sparks or smoke around a freshly charged battery (two small explosions), or not to smoke around gas (2 small fires, one from a match, the other from the cherry dropping on the gas) or not to use electrical equipment around gasoline (one huge fire) cordless phone rang next to the gasoline.

On the alcohol side;
When I sold autoparts I used to tell customers that 'I've never sold beer, but it makes most of my money'. I was exaggerating, but not by much.

A friend of mine is an emergency room nurse and her motto is 'we run on beer'.

About 90% of the grown men she treats involved booze and fire or booze and cars or booze and tools.

 

[eschoendorff]

On the alcohol side;
When I sold autoparts I used to tell customers that 'I've never sold beer, but it makes most of my money'. I was exaggerating, but not by much.

A friend of mine is an emergency room nurse and her motto is 'we run on beer'.

About 90% of the grown men she treats involved booze and fire or booze and cars or booze and tools.

That would be hilarious if it wasn't so true.

 

[PoorOwner]

Before I got my 25" craftsman set I have used a 1/2" breaker bar to pull down control arms, actually it works better, no sharp ends to scratch the chassis around.

 

[MAD]

The cheap import H.F. type plastic handled prybars up to 24" are a good deal for the price and work fine for light to medium duty work. All of the handles of the 1st set I got are either cracked or totally gone now but I would say I got my moneys worth for sure. The tape used to make new handles probably cost almost as much as the prybar set. I picked up a 36" pry bar like these from Northern Tool but the shaft is the same thickness as the shorter ones and tends to flex a lot. I would pass on the longer ones.

I have had the standard Craftsman pry bars for about as long as the HF ones and they have held up much better even though I have used them more often. Even without the striking caps the handles seem pretty immune to the occasional smack with a hammer. The set (up to 24") goes on sale for 50% off quite often and in my opinion is worth the extra 10 bucks over the H.F. ones then even for the extreme cheapskate. These are made in the USA, I believe by Wilde tool co.

As others have said the Craftsman pro bars are perhaps the best deal on a high quality set. 31" is the longest you can get though.

I recently got a whole six piece set of the OTC pry bars. I have not used them but they seem very nice. The shaft of the 36" bar is 5/8". I don't think it will flex easily. One warning about the OTC set though. They are made in China. Yes, mainland China not even Taiwan. If this bothers you stay away from these. For what they are charging for these most places I would suggest getting the USA made Craftsman pro 5 piece set and a longer bar from Mayhew.

One of my favorite pry bars is an old Woodings Verona 42" pinch/point bar that I picked up dirt cheap. No fancy plastic handle but both ends are useful.

 

[Junkman]

I have used an old spring leaf as a pry bar, and it never has failed me. It was made by Yankee Ingenuity around 1950.

 

[Moose-LandTran]

i have a 24" Snap-on bar and a 30" crowbar that i use. i have a 4-piece set of Snap-on bars with the steel capped handled, but they're at a friends house waiting to be shipped to me.

for most job a 12" Snap-on bar covers it. if you need more then 24" bar is good, although i find that the handle is too big. maybe i just have small hands..

something well worth getting is the Snap-on/BlePoint aligning bar. it's 18" with a 90 degree head at one end and a spike at the other. very useful for lining up holes. for the little it costs, you'll get you money's worth with the first job you use it on.

 

[creatureofthewheel]

thanx for the info ya'll. im laughing my *** off about "we run on beer". its sad, but true. its all fun n games till someone gets hurt; then its just hilarious. mayhews keep getting mentioned but ive never heard of that brand? looks like craftsmen or cornwell cuz he's the only one that i ever seem to catch. all my snap-on buying experiences involve a snappy man on his way home at night lol.

 

[johnny1290]

I just broke down and bought a set of craftsman non-pro for 20 bucks the other day...dunno how I lived with out them! Best $20 I've spent in a long time

 

[eschoendorff]

i have a 24" Snap-on bar and a 30" crowbar that i use. i have a 4-piece set of Snap-on bars with the steel capped handled, but they're at a friends house waiting to be shipped to me.

for most job a 12" Snap-on bar covers it. if you need more then 24" bar is good, although i find that the handle is too big. maybe i just have small hands..

something well worth getting is the Snap-on/BlePoint aligning bar. it's 18" with a 90 degree head at one end and a spike at the other. very useful for lining up holes. for the little it costs, you'll get you money's worth with the first job you use it on.

I was gonna mention the crow-bar thing. You can get USA made ones pretty cheap and they are generally heavier duty and less prone to flex... I have about three of them.

I first bought the Craftsman non-pro prybars and they were great. Then I caught the Craftsman Pro prybars on sale, bought them and gave the non-pros to my dad. He seems to like them a lot.

 

[MAD]

I was gonna mention the crow-bar thing. You can get USA made ones pretty cheap and they are generally heavier duty and less prone to flex... I have about three of them.

Digging bars are good too when you have the room to use them. You can get a 60" bar at most home centers for 25-30 bucks. Also I think I have used my pickle forks more for general prying than for ball joints and tie rods. The wedge shape can come in handy and there is certainly no problem hammering on them if you need to.

 

[jay50]

I just broke down and bought a set of craftsman non-pro for 20 bucks the other day...dunno how I lived with out them! Best $20 I've spent in a long time

I have the Cman non pros also and have used the heck out of them; keep telling myself I will buy SO prybars when these **** out. Looks like that is not going to happen in my lifetime....

 

[byrd]

about never being hurt when a tool failed...kinda depends on what you repair. if its auto work then yes, you probably wont be hurt as there arent many parts as big and or heavy enough to really matter. but when it comes to heavy equipment its a whole different ball game. you also cant assume one is drinking on the job by the way.

 

[Chris Adams]

about never being hurt when a tool failed...kinda depends on what you repair. if its auto work then yes, you probably wont be hurt as there arent many parts as big and or heavy enough to really matter. but when it comes to heavy equipment its a whole different ball game. you also cant assume one is drinking on the job by the way.

Did you mean, you can't NOT assume one is drinking on the job?

When I ran a shop I had about 20% guys who wanted to work lit up.

One total alcoholic, two guys that would drink whiskey every break and two that would sometimes come in pretty drunk from the night before.

I got rid of them when I could, but drunkenness is not a legal reason for firing in California.


In retail autoparts stores you normally estimate 10% serious drug/drink problems in your staff. Here in Southern California that goes much higher.

But on the drunk/injury side, I only counted the ones that flat said they were drunk or their friends said they were drunk when they broke parts/tools.
That totaled up to a pretty large percentage.

On the ER nurse (now an administrator) comment on how many were drunk when they hurt themselves, it’s not an opinion. They have to file legal reports on drug and alcohol related injuries.

It’s true that anyone can be injured doing a job drunk or sober. It’s true anyone can have a car accident.

Pour some booze into the equation and the likelihood of an accident involving injury goes up between 10 and 100 times.


Only people that disagree are those that are doing it...

Name a non drug/drink user that thinks someone is MORE coordinated, more careful, and more thoughtful when under the influence...


As to injuries from heavy equipment, I know two LONG time heavy machinery mechanics that recently died.

One at 86 (bad heart, diabetes) the other at 79 (cancer).
Neither ever got injured working on the big stuff.

Both worked more than 50 years in it.
Both had tools fail.
Neither one put their life in their hands trusting a tool.

No one should.

 

[MajorPayne]

The matco bars are nice, they have ergonomic handles and metal caps on the ends for striking

They are a bit pricey, but nice nevertheless

 

[Moose-LandTran]

are the Snap-on bar with the striking cap something new or something old? i bought a set off eBay, boxed and sealed but have never seen them before. and have no idea as to wether they're something they've just put out.

 

[chad s]

are the Snap-on bar with the striking cap something new or something old? i bought a set off eBay, boxed and sealed but have never seen them before. and have no idea as to wether they're something they've just put out.

Just released about 3 months ago. I have the set, very nice!

 

[MajorPayne]

Just released about 3 months ago. I have the set, very nice!

whats the part number on those? if its not too much trouble

 

[Moose-LandTran]

Just released about 3 months ago. I have the set, very nice!

Ahh, thanks.

looked them up on Snap-on US a minute ago. might have to get the 36" one sent to me. there's no listing for it over here.