Pry Bar Steel?

[bigfootnampa]

I have been buying cheap pry bars whenever I find them in antique malls or flea markets. I generally get them at real bargain prices and have found quite a few. I love them for punches, chisels and such tools! I have found that they make my 4140 tools seem pretty soft and fragile. I like this steel SO WELL that I am wanting to make a few production items from consistent identically sized stock... which means I need to buy new steel. I don't know just what to get though. Do any of you know what steel(s) are usually used to make pry bar tools?

[ThomasPowers]

A-36 - 1095 pretty much anything and no bets on if 2 pry bars have the same steel even if made by the same maker! If you have a chunk you really like you could have it analyzed and see what it really is.

[Bentiron1946]

In buying old pry bars it's difficult to tell what you have. I have bought them made from the late 1800's to the early 2000's and the price has all been about the same, a quarter, fifty cents for the small and one to two dollars for the large. I liked the way the older ones reworked as the newer ones were made in China and while usable as pry bars didn't rework as well.

[ThomasPowers]

Remember when the russian Ti crowbars went through?

[pkrankow]

Take a piece of stock (prybar or item made from prybar), look up in the phone book for chemical analysis or material testing and give a call. When I had floor tile and adhesives tested for asbestos a few years ago the batch was under $50. Work paid for it happily, and this was 5 years ago.

Phil