Mini pry bar

[cdosrun]

I have carried a little Gecko Kits titanium pry bad for a very long time and have found it helpful from time to time.

As I am trying to find a replacement for my Leatherman Juice XE6, I have gone with some discrete tools. Whilst less compact, I hope for a little more utility with them.

I have just bought a Rogan RPT mini pry bar. It looks like a EOD Robotics mid breacher (something I couldn't find in steel) and I chose the 'carbon steel' over stainless even though the cost wasn't far apart because I wanted something a bit harder than the Ti.

Sadly, it seems to be remarkably soft and the tip even marked when used on a zinc lock body. It is so soft that it won't even really strike a ferrocerium rod well as the edge rolls visibly almost immediately.

May I ask if anyone else has tried one of these and could suggest whether this is expected or if mine might have somehow missed it's heat treatment?

I have to say that I am pretty disappointed. I wasn't expecting something to be as hard as carbide but was hoping for it to be notably harder than grade 5 Ti. There isn't any reason to recommend this over a Ti or stainless version as far as I can tell - the Stainless Rogan was only very slightly more expensive.

Thank you,

Andrew

 

[scalpel_ninja]

I have the full size EOD Robotics pry bar in steel from CountyComm. It's been through a beating with a few demolition projects, but very little dings are on the edge. I also have the mini version but haven't used it as much. I haven't struck any ferro rods with it, however I wonder if the bevel is different on yours? Mine still has the factory bevel and was never sharp by any means (actually has a 1/32 inch flat surface where the bevels meet). It could also be the steel and heat treatment are different.

 

[cdosrun]

Thank you, that is interesting. The end of that looks pretty good if it has been used a bit.

By way of an example, I just polished up the end of this one (the grind marks as new were similar to those shown on the side picture) and then pulled the file (metal not diamond) from the Leatherman juice across the end with its own weight. The file doesn't skip as I would expect for a hardened metal with no weight on the file, instead it cut some small marks. I tried similarly with the little Gecko one and the outcome was the same or slightly better. Not that I care about scratches, it was merely to indicate how soft the metal is. The marks on the side are where I tried running titanium bar against the steel one - they appear to be indented marks in the steel rather than deposition of titanium.

It will obviously work as a bit of mild steel and it is certainly thick enough not to bend under hand pressure but, particularly for the cost, I was hoping that it would be a little harder than it is. Like your EOD shown above, there is a flat of around 0.5mm around the edge so it isn't sharp but it doesn't have the same back bevel that yours displays.

I might end up buying a bit of heat-treatable steel and just making my own - 5 inches is about the right length for this and the EOD is a bit long to keep in a pocket or on a belt.