Old pry bar ?

F

FLINT77

Joined
Apr 8, 2013
Messages
836
If this tool is too far off topic, I apologize and will understand if the thread is removed.

lblyttle's latest haul included a bar that reminded me of a large old bar that was my grandfather's. I got to thinking, I wonder if there is a way to identify the maker of the old bar. So I dug the bar out of the corner of the garage and cleaned it off a little and looked for any identifying marks.

First a brief description. I'm not sure what the correct name is - wedge point lining bar or crow bar or pry bar. Its a little over 60" long. Starting at the point, the first 18" is square and 1 1/4" across, the next 17.5" is octagonal and 1 1/8" across, and the final 25" is round tapering to 1"diameter. It weighs 19lbs on my bathroom scale.

I was able to find the following marks on it. on one of the flats it's stamped
S C S 9 2
the 2 is stamped much much deeper than the other numbers, and may be a different style.
the S C S 9 stamps are pretty fine and not all that close together.
Then opposite the deep 2 stamp is what may supposed to be a six sided star. I couldn't make out any of the words within the star until I looked at a picture I took of it, and the last word might be CITY.

anyways, if anyone knows anything about this cool old tool, I'd love to hear about it. It certainly is a beast.





 
BookReaderImages.php

https://archive.org/stream/IronCityCatalogNo551955/Iron City Catalog No 55 1955#page/n5
 
Holy cow, you guys are fast.

you nailed it. Iron City Tool Works.

looks like the number 74 wedge point crow bar. the specs listed in the 1955 catalog match my bar, 60", 1 1/4" stock, 18lbs.

very cool.

Thanks!
 
FLINT77 said:
First a brief description. I'm not sure what the correct name is - wedge point lining bar or crow bar or pry bar. Its a little over 60" long. Starting at the point, the first 18" is square and 1 1/4" across, the next 17.5" is octagonal and 1 1/8" across, and the final 25" is round tapering to 1"diameter. It weighs 19lbs on my bathroom scale.
Click to expand...

Generically they're called 'rock bars'. That's the ones with the square profile behind the tip. The specific name will depend on the shape of the tip. Most common is a single-beveled chisel shape called a 'pinch point bar'. A double-beveled bar is called a 'wedge point bar'. A 4-beveled tool is called a 'diamond point bar'.

cedarriverforge.com/Photo-index/Tools/Warwood-Tool-Catalog-2014.pdf

Not to be confused with digging bars that are great for digging post holes but aren't strong enough to pry boulders around.

And ~19 pounds is a common standard size. They come bigger and smaller.

They are very handy for trail work. Often a section of trail needs to be supported by a rock wall.

Building%20rockery.jpg


Sometimes the whole trail needs to built of rock.
Rock%20Trail.jpg
 
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Yankee Josh said:
I wonder if "SCS9" might be a ccc camp?
Click to expand...
You might have solved the mystery. CCC camps for Soil Conservation could have some good uses for pry bars.

CCC Camp Lists
...
SCS Soil Conservation
...
Identification of the Nine Military / CCC Corps Areas
used during the administration of the CCC
NINTH - WASHINGTON, OREGON, IDAHO, MONTANA, UTAH, NEVADA CALIFORNIA, AND YELLOWSTONE PARK.
http://www.ccclegacy.org/CCC_Camp_Lists.html#Key_Co_#
 
I bet you guys are right on with the CCC Soil Conservation Service.

My family is from upstate NY - St. Lawrence co.
I know that my grandfather did work for the Adirondack park in the 40s (I think)? not sure if it was with the ccc or not. I'll ask my father if he knows anything about it.

I found this page - which lists CCC-SCS camps by state, and there is a SCS 9 in NY, so that is likely the source. which is cool.

http://www.arcse.org/qCCC-SCS-Camps.htm

Square_peg, thanks for the bar info! my dad said they used the bar on the farm for digging post holes, as the ground is very rocky up there. He said they would jam the bar into the ground and rock it around and then jam it in further and repeat until they had made room for a post. my dad still has two other smaller bars that we used a bunch for random tasks when I was growing up - I'll have to look at those next time I'm there.

Its always cool to discover the story about a tool - especially when there is a family connection. So, thank's to all for the help!
 
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