Burke Bar

[Newstuffsucks81 90]

These were invented in the ‘40s and used to separate forms from foundations. Almost immediately guys realized they were great crow bars with a great deal of leverage. We redid our back deck this summer so I had a hood reason to make one. 

48”x2”x1”x.25” wall. 
12” piece of leaf spring from my spare 14bolt axle 

Bending that leaf spring was the most difficult part. It’s the over load off a one ton pack. I had to heat both sides with map gas and acetylene, put it in a vise and a 24” pipe wrench. I’m a strong guy and it wouldn’t budge. Heated it again cherry red, added 3’ pipe and I got a bend. The I cut a crows beak in one end of the bar, put the spring in, hammered it shut and welded it up. Added a piece of steel across the front to reinforce but not really needed. I ripped the 5 1/4 decking up in no time at all, and they used ring shank nails. 

[Pullstart 63,104]

And a square body Chevy to boot!  Nice ride!

[Newstuffsucks81 90]

18 minutes ago, Pullstart said:

And a square body Chevy to boot!  Nice ride!

 

[Pullstart 63,104]

You know how many tractors would fit on that thing!?!?

[peter lena 8,742]

@Newstuffsucks81 strength / leverage , what a concept ! just makes sense when you are dealing with long set trouble spot. you know you are doing it right , when stuff moves with relative ease. regularly use long crowbars or heavy screwdrivers, just to move things around . BTW  2 of those small pry bars , working together , easily pry off  mower deck pulleys without damage . pete

[Newstuffsucks81 90]

On 1/1/2022 at 12:22 AM, Pullstart said:

You know how many tractors would fit on that thing!?!?

Those are 2 loaded trucks!

[Newstuffsucks81 90]

22 hours ago, peter lena said:

@Newstuffsucks81 strength / leverage , what a concept ! just makes sense when you are dealing with long set trouble spot. you know you are doing it right , when stuff moves with relative ease. regularly use long crowbars or heavy screwdrivers, just to move things around . BTW  2 of those small pry bars , working together , easily pry off  mower deck pulleys without damage . pete

Certainly does. Having a good assortment of bars, and big screwdrivers are a good investment. I have a descent used tool store that I stop at once in a while. I grabbed a 24” VACCO USA slotted not long ago.

[Jeff-C175 7,203]

There's nothing like having a "Big Johnson" ( or TWO ) when you need to do some heavy moving!

 

 

Edited January 2, 2022 by Jeff-C175

[squonk 41,401]

Saw a guy move a big old honking safe with one of those and some metal pipes.

[Jeff-C175 7,203]

1 hour ago, squonk said:

Saw a guy move a big old honking safe with one of those and some metal pipes.

 

Mighta been me!  I've moved two safes with it, and a number of boilers

 

Easiest thing to do is get some good heavy duty dollies, lift with the bar, get the dollies under three corners and use the Johnson under the 4th corner as a 'rudder handle'.  Still takes 2-3 stevedores to push and pull though.

 

 

[Newstuffsucks81 90]

10 hours ago, Jeff-C175 said:

There's nothing like having a "Big Johnson" ( or TWO ) when you need to do some heavy moving!

 

 

That’s a good tool. When I was in college I worked at my dads shop fixing and moving  vending machines. When we’d go to an old mill or machine shop to install a machine you’d still see a couple of those bars. 6’ oak handle with a thick steel foot. In the shops they’d use them to get a heavy machine up for a Jack or 4 wheel dolley

[pacer 3,174]

My buddy is about as bad as my wife about changing stuff, we must've moved his Bridgeport miill and big South Bend lathe couple dozen times - 4 pieces of 1" steel pipe and that thing made it simple.