A few years ago a friend of mine blogged about a new product by Stanley. The FUBAR was reported as a demolition tool suited for carpenters and rescue workers alike.
Later that year I was walking around the EMS conference and I stopped to chat with my friends at the DANKO booth. To my surprise they had a “new and improved” fire service version of the FUBAR for sale. Stanley took the basic tool, and sold it in two sizes; an 18” and a 30” for fire fighters. They added a lot of gimickey functions to it. Reading marketing pamphlet the bar now has lots of different functions.
Our premier forcible entry tool designed by responders for vehicle extrication and extreme demolition:
- 8-in-1 tool for prying, splitting, board bending and striking jobs
- Demolition head
- Gas shut-off feature
- Spanner wrench
- Pry bar for ripping
- Hydrant wrench
- 2nd tier board jaw also fits square hydrant nuts
- Board jaw sized specifically for grabbing common dimensional lumber
- Beveled nail slot for pulling & prying nails
- One piece forged steel bar for increased durability
- Heat treated and tempered striking face prevents chipping
- Flame-resistant aluminum grips are durable and lightweight
- Carabiner holes for easy attachment of shoulder strap
- Hi-visibility 3M™ Scotchlite™ enhances visibility
I am generally very leery of fire tools that add scotchlite and spanner wrenches. In spite of the “Whacker” feel of this tool I grabbed a 30” version to test.
I took some time to test it out, and realized that it was a good demolition/overhaul tool, but a lousy forcible entry tool. The ability to pull and tear studs out of a wall, and an aggressive heavy sledge head makes easy work of lath and plaster. Unfortunately forcing a sturdy door was difficult. If you don’t look to closely at the tool it looks like it has an Adz end similar to a Halligan. Unfortunately the FUBARS flat top has no bevel, and there is little clearance for the tool to bite on the doorframe. The bevel on the fork end is also cut in the wrong direction to be useful for forcible entry.
With all of these problems in mind many in the fire service have written off Stanleys tool as a joke. After working with it for the last year I made a few modifications to it, which have turned this bar into a functional forcible entry tool. Take a look at what we did, and give the FUBAR another look.
1. Remove the grips
I found the Stanley scotchlite grips uncomfortable and not functional. I removed them, and replaced them with a standard hockey style tape wrap.
2. Creating an Adz
If this tool is going to be used to force doors it needs to be properly shaped to provide appropriate leverage. The existing shape does not allow for a good perch, or clearance. We flattened the top of the tool, cut a bevel, flattened a few of the "teeth" and rounded the bottom of the Jaw. the rounding looks severe, but the tool still retains its ability to pull lumber.
3. Changes to the fork.
From the factory the fork is cut for construction work. We reversed the bevel to make this tool better for our work.
With all of these modifications we have changed the look, and feel of the FUBAR. We will post more later letting you know how well it preforms under pressure.
For now we wait for the chance to put this tool to the test.
