Just broke my Gerber Prybrid utility knife from use, but hadn’t used the prybar once. Wondering what you all use your mini prybars for!
When I was a kid I cut myself on one of those peel-up cat food can lids, so badly I saw my own bones for a moment.
Ever since then I’ve preferred to use a tool for opening those cans, if only out of paranoia.
You mean those can with pull-up tab? How could that cut you so bad?
This particular brand used a very stiff lid. It always came off bent instead of curled because of how unnecessarily heavy it was.
I admit it was a freak accident and the odds it could ever happen again are near nil, but I still have the scar, physical and otherwise.
Skill issue
I have yet to see a context in which this is a kind or helpful thing to say.
To take out mini head crabs. - Doctor Freeman
I don’t EDC a knife. I use my countycomm mini pry bar almost daily to:
- pull out staples from documents
- pull out metal shavings from shoes
- open packages
It’s a glorified doorjam. I’ve used them for some slight metal tweaking on roll up doors etc.
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I have found the usual small prybars useful, but I have since discovered variants like this:
It provides a much better grip and the curve give it a lot more leverage. I’ve been surprised at how much more effective it is than straight bars of a similar size. (This one was made by Teale Designs on Etsy.)
Being able to pull up or peel something without peeling back your thumb/finger nail is kinda nice. I don’t carry a specific pry-bar, but some things I carry have a pry-bar-esque utility that is super handy.
I needed one to break into drawers in these carts were were decomming at a previous job like 10 years ago. That’s really the only time I can think of where I couldn’t do what I needed to do because I didn’t have one on me. Other than that I’ve gotten by without it.
I have a little pry tool keychain thing. It has a bottle opener and flat head on it. The pry bar bit can also act like a big flat head for things that have a coin slot meant to tighten or open it. It’s not meant for nails or opening wooden crates.
Really it’s useful for any poking of prying that you shouldn’t be using a knife for but have a strange urge to. Also a package opener if people around are nervous about knives. The utility knife thing with a bit of crowbar glued to it probably doesn’t comfort others as it looks like how someone would design a tactical box cutter.
I got impulsive one day and decided that I absolutely just had to pull the old nasty carpet off my basement stairs. Since this was spur of the moment I decided to use what I had on me, which included my small pry bar.
It worked well on loosening the wooden strips that held the carpet as well as some random staples that were there for…some reason.
I’ve found a few scenarios where I can use it, even if it’s just prying something open and I don’t feel like marring my pocket knife. While I don’t have a specific use case for my pry bar or half my tools for that matter but it’s always nice to have the bar just in case.
They’re made for removing finishing/brad nails.
To pry things that don’t require the leverage of a full-sized or extra long prybar. Or self-defense. Or to open a bottle. Technically, the bottle opener on my keychain is just a very small prybar. I’ve used it for actually prying small electronics apart since I don’t have one of those kind of spreader/spatula things made for that.
