EDC demolition tool

RDX-HMX
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Ha, ha, ha, that was what first came to mind but I din't want to give the Homeland Security people something to red flag.
I'm weird enough without drawing attention to myself for that.
 
Go to your favorite hardware store and get an 8- or 10-inch moulding pry bar. It'll set you back $10, maybe $15. Get one with a flat end directly in line with the length of the bar so that you can drive it with a hammer if you need to. Stanley and Bostitch both make excellent models for this. I'm sure there are others (Estwing?).

Stick it under your car seat. Or wrap it in a rag or towel and put it in your backpack.

You'll wonder how you ever lived without it.
 
I had the same problem you had OP. My solution was i took my kershaw thermite, reprofiled the blade to a tanto with a chisel grind cutting edge. I carry that with my zt 0562 for work. The thermite does the prying and scraping, all the things that dull a blade super quick. The blade is never really sharp, but every once in a while i throw an edge back on. What you need is a "beater" knife.
 
arent the emerson/kershaw collaborations made in a chisel grind i remember reading that those can pry but i dont know
 
ma tumba said:
I know that my original description may sound funny, but I have had quite a few situations when I regretted not having such a tool.
1. I had to pry open the trunk of my car to get a spare battery while my main car battery died due to severe cold conditions. It was a situation when I really did not have time to spare or care about the car. And my prybar was right in that trunk (I don't EDC it)
2. My little daughter locked the door im my mom's flat, from inside, and I had to pry open that pretty sturdy door right away and my mom did not have any tools at home.
3. My friends and I had a party in the woods and one of the guys brought a portable metal stove. The door fell off and I thought I could fix it since I found some a steel wire nearby. But I had no tools to punch couple of holes in the stove and cut a few pieces of that wire, because I don't normally take a drill or metal cutting scissors with me when I drive out in the woods.
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Okay, I usually try to give helpful answers without questioning the sense of the question(er), but man you get destructive fast. I can find better ways of gaining access to a car or apartment without straight-up demolishing things, and even then, I think a crowbar and/or sledgehammer would work better in those cases. (As for #3, I carry a multi-tool for situations like that.)

But having nonetheless given actual thought to your request, it sounds to me like you want a 7" kiridashi in some very thick and durable tool steel. Good for cutting and punching (if not so good on the more delicate tasks), but also able to hold up to prying and smashing. It should be an easy enough custom to have made.

In fact, now that I've just typed that, I kind of want one, too.
 
What about the ZT 180 in vanadis 4e?
images
 
The Vaughn mini pry bar at all of 5.5" and 1.6oz is a tiny little sucker that i have used for all sort of demo stuff*, and can easily be carried if one is so inclined. Can be had for around $5 and would be totally unobtrusive. Between that, and... i dunno, let's say a Becker BK24 in D2 you'd be looking at a pretty formidable pairing in terms of the stuff they could do, and all for around $60 total

The mini bar, in concert with Vaughn's stubby bar, and super bar are just unstoppable. I use Vaughn's 28oz. rigging axe as well and that is absolutely the most destructive demo tool I own. When I NEED to break heavy duty strong stuff, that's my go-to. It'll hack and bash through just about anything.
 
As we get older sometimes we lose a little testosterone. But for right now I would secure a tool at Lowe's and I'd pry open every mother funking you come across.
 
kwackster said:
Would a Bahco wrecking knife 2449 be an option ?
From what i've read it's made from thick SK5 tool steel with a hardness of about 61 HRC, and it can handle quite a lot.
Price is just over 30 US dollars.

[video=youtube;VEaV_8bzuDQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEaV_8bzuDQ[/video]
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Thanks for posting. Really like the looks of that!
 
saw perfect thing on amazon for you. that hammer multi tool chinese pos cheap fun gift thing that no one who uses tools would buy. that can pry and hammer and should have knife and under $20 and should fit in belt sheath just type in hammer multi tool on amazon
 
Shorttime said:
I would like to offer an alternative:



TOPS Knives Lil' Roughneck. 3/8" by 6", by 5160 steel. TOPS warranty is very good, but you'll have to hurt this thing, first.

Now this is not meant to take away from Charlie Mike, who can make you exactly what you want. That may suit your purposes better.
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Thats a very intersting knife! Never heard of anything that thick!
 
I thought of getting a dedicated prybar for the car and I would probably get one. Actually I found one cute kind called GearWrench Indexable Pry Bar which seems to be the most versatile one. But prybars do not cover all I need.

Sturdy knives are not optimal for prying because they have generally sharp points would deform the base object rather than pry someting out of it. I have to say that I like kiridashi knives a lot, but I dount they are good for prying.

So I kind of lean now to chisel like stuff. Something like this:
View attachment 595976
where red marks the parts with more "acute" grind (chisel grind, 45-60 deg) and green mark the parts of more blunt grind (60-90 deg, not necessarily chisel). The flipper type sharp point is actually kind of a punch. Since the upper edge of the blade is completely unsharpened, a hammer could be used to thrust this sharp punch thru a sheet of metal.

To provide good leverage for prying a chisel should be pretty thick and this is good for general sturdiness of the tool. So I wonder what kind of steel should be used if it is going to be thicker than, say, 1/4 or even 1/3 of an inch and the above mentioned geometry?

I am still thinking of the handle part, I may decide to leave it blunt as is or add some sort of metal scales or a tubular handle so that I can have a kiridashi type spike at the back.
 
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Wowbagger said:
One wrecking tool that I have lately been enjoying is a pair of these used together in various combinations. This is one MAJOR thing that was missing from my life and I didn't even know it. Super handy and they are pretty small and nestle so they don't take up much room.

I've always had one but when I added one more of the same size the usefulness factor quadrupled.
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Very interesting, could you explain a little how 2 are more useful than 1?
 
ma tumba said:
I thought of getting a dedicated prybar for the car and I would probably get one. Actually I found one cute kind called GearWrench Indexable Pry Bar which seems to be the most versatile one. But prybars do not cover all I need.

Sturdy knives are not optimal for prying because they have generally sharp points would deform the base object rather than pry someting out of it. I have to say that I like kiridashi knives a lot, but I dount they are good for prying.

So I kind of lean now to chisel like stuff. Something like this:
View attachment 595976
where red marks the parts with more "acute" grind (chisel grind, 45-60 deg) and green mark the parts of more blunt grind (60-90 deg, not necessarily chisel). The flipper type sharp point is actually kind of a punch. Since the upper edge of the blade is completely unsharpened, a hammer could be used to thrust this sharp punch thru a sheet of metal.

To provide good leverage for prying a chisel should be pretty thick and this is good for general sturdiness of the tool. So I wonder what kind of steel should be used if it is going to be thicker than, say, 1/4 or even 1/3 of an inch and the above mentioned geometry?

I am still thinking of the handle part, I may decide to leave it blunt as is or add some sort of metal scales or a tubular handle so that I can have a kiridashi type spike at the back.
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Following up on kwaksters post, did you see the other Bahco Wrecking Knife, 2448?

2448_appl_Wreckingknife_2448.jpg
 
Blues Bender said:
How about just a box of tools? You're putting way too much thought into a simple solution.
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Let me put it this way, during my typical day I dont have access to the tools I store at home or in my car. I often even leave my backpack or a briefcase at home and carry just what I can have in my pockets. So I am wondering if I can find something compact and lightweight to find its place in my pocket and still be useful.
 
Wowbagger said:
As far as being locked out of your car. We always carry a second key in our pocket. I have seen other people lock themselves out of their car enough times I don't care to experience it.

One wrecking tool that I have lately been enjoying is a pair of these used together in various combinations. This is one MAJOR thing that was missing from my life and I didn't even know it. Super handy and they are pretty small and nestle so they don't take up much room.

I've always had one but when I added one more of the same size the usefulness factor quadrupled.

Sorry I couldn't help you further.

PS: I kept looking for a heavier duty pair of these and the matched pair of pry tools was what I needed. Worlds more mechanical advantage.
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Having a matching pair of tools in a toolbox is a great idea, thanks for the advice!
 
Right tool for the right job. If you are looking for a demolition tool, then I would recommend something intended for that instead of a nice knife whether it be Strider, Busse or anything else. But if I were to recommend something tough, the Cold Steel GI tanto of 1055 steel is about as tough as a knife gets and it is dirt cheap, so when you do break it and you eventual will break any knife, it will only cost you $20+ to replace it.

The Bhco tool above is a great recco as well.
 
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