A brief history of the bar

Some archaeologists believe that bar-type tools’ simple shapes and wide range of common uses suggest that their predecessors may have been among the first tools used by early humans.

Early humankind’s nomadic lifestyle required a wide range of simply constructed, versatile tools.

It is likely that early bars would have been carved from tough wood, bone or tusk. 

Other estimates place the bar’s development in the early 1400s, when the first references to the ‘iron crow’ (crowbar) are seen in literature and letters. 

The name ‘iron crow’ came into common usage because of the black beak and splayed foot of the wrecking bar, thought to resemble a crow’s.

Over time, ‘iron crow’ became ‘crow bar’, a name which has come to be used by many as a catch-all term for a wide range of varied bars – but which, used properly, actually refers to the large crowbar.