Those bars are quite useful at moving and prying objects. I have some scattered around the house, but I use the same models in excavating fossils. The field conditions I encounter often find the desired specimen locked in a large conglomerate/gravel deposit, where one is often prying largish rocks out to "unlock" the desired bone. They work quite well, better than any knife, and can take quite a beating.

I also have some long (five feet or so) hexagonal bars, pointed at one end, with a chisel at the other. One can shift amazingly heavy items with one or two of those.

A few guys on here have the EOD breacher bar from Countrycomm. I keep putting it off but will get one soon for EDC. It's pretty neat for less than $20.

Looks pretty interesting.. Of course, I would never buy one just because it is a cool looking gadget, but since I might use it for science, perhaps I'll get three or four!

The EOD breacher bar is okay, certainly better than nothing, but it is mighty short for serious prying where length translates to leverage. That and the prying edge is pretty thick so your going to need a substantial crack to get it started. You might be able to grind a more finer edge but no amount of grinding will make the unit longer.

that's a puzzler there. like this piece of aluminum i was working on recently. i musta cut that thing five times, and it was STILL too short.

We've got a Paratech Biel tool in our bedroom - another quake country resident.

I was raised in the country, and nothing springs to mind about having to pry anything in a life-saving emergency situation.

In the wilds you might consider the prying ability of a blade useful when splitting wood? Not classical but if things get stuck an awful lot of the wiggling and levering has similar effect to prying.

And of course you have to get to the wilds - by car, boat or aeroplane you may need to escape from or cannibalise wreckage.

I think that for genuine survival - as opposed to camping or hiking - a stong knife that will let you chop, hack and pry, and is forgiving of poor technique (as you are tired, wet, cold etc) is more useful to quickly turn the surroundings into fuel and shelter than a finer edge which is useful for skinning and other jobs.

I have a piranha pocket tool for light urban prying. Anything heavy duty I have a 12" crowbar in the truck.

> In the wilds you might consider the prying ability of a blade useful when
> splitting wood? Not classical but if things get stuck an awful lot of the wiggling
> and levering has similar effect to prying.

You run into issues with all compromises. I can't imagine trying to pry with a blade to split wood. To each his own, but I'd move on to other tasks if all I had was a blade to split wood.

I thought I was wierd for having a wonder bar in my car kit. After watching Nutnfancy's USK series, I went out and got a bigger pry bar for that kit.

I think something to pry with is an essential tool for use during natural disasters.