Crowbar Facts
By: The Working Man



1. The most common use of a crowbar is to lever or pry things
apart. They are also used to remove nails. They are also
especially good at opening crates made of wood.

2. The crowbar is known by many names such as: crow bar, crowbar,
jimmy, jimmy bar, jemmy, gooseneck, pry bar, prybar.

3. When someone calls a crow bar a jimmy or jemmy it is usually
in reference to using a crow bar for breaking and entering.
Locksmiths will use this tool at times to break locks when there
is no other recourse.


4. Crowbars are usually made from carbon steel but they can also
be made from lead and titanium.

5. Crowbars come in several shapes: Cylindrical, Hexagonal, Oval
and I-beam.


6. The crowbar shape most resistant to bending is the I-beam.

7. The origin of the word crowbar is suspected to be from the
1400's when it was called a crow bar. It is believed that the
tool was called this because the bar looks like a crow's beak or
crow's foot at one end and is used the same way a crow pries open
a nut.

8. William Shakespeare mentioned a crow bar in his play Romeo and
Juliet.

9. Some people believe that the crowbar is named that because the
slaves in Colonial America were frequently called "Jim Crow" and
the crowbar was frequently used by slaves. Therefore the crowbar
is named for "Jim Crow". We doubt this origin and want to aver
that the crowbar is not racist.

10. In video games and movies crowbars are frequently used as
weapons.


11. There are three classes of levers and prybars that can be
used for all three.

12. The most common crowbar is a gooseneck crowbar named for the
hook at the end with a flattened split fork for nail pulling.

13. There are many variations of tools on the ends of crowbars.
The most common is a nail puller of some kind. Other popular
features include a chisel and a trim puller end.

14. A crowbar can come in many different lengths. As a general
rule the longer it is the more weight it can pry apart.

15. There are three main kinds of crowbar: the prybar, the
digging bar and the wrecking bar.


16. The wrecking bar is used for demolition.

17. The digging bar is mainly used to help dig post holes.

18. There are crowbars that are called utility bars. They can do
any type of prying work and then some. One is called a Fubar
another is called a Tibar.

19. All types of crowbars are used in demolition.

20. The crowbar uses leverage to pry things apart but it is not
commonly called a lever.


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