When purchasing any bar, you should be on the lookout for manufacturing defects, such as burred nail slots. Burrs occur when strips of metal fold away from the blade during machining. A defect like this one indicates that the nail slot was not deburred after machining, and renders the bar unusable.
Additionally, it reveals a subpar manufacturing process in which steps have been missed and post-production inspection is lacking – even if a burred bar were to be usable, it should be avoided in favour of a better quality of manufacture.
If you own a burred bar and do not have the option of returning it to the seller, you can deburr the nail slot yourself using a grinder. If you don’t already have the necessary tools for deburring, it would be much cheaper to buy another bar.
Do not tamper with your wrecking bar!
Some DIY enthusiasts may advise that you adjust the curve of your wrecking bar to your desired angle by hammering it into shape – don’t do this!
During manufacturing, a wrecking bar is forged and tempered carefully so that the internal grain structure of the metal is in line with the desired shape.
This aligning internal grain structure offers the structural integrity to ensure that your wrecking bar withstands force to the necessary degree during use.
If you were to alter the shape of your wrecking bar simply by hammering it until deformed, you would not be altering the grain structure so that it aligned with the shape of the bar – therefore, your bar would lose the structural integrity that metal gains during the forging process.
If you really need to adjust the angle of your wrecking bar’s claws, don’t get the hammer out – buy an adjustable wrecking bar!
