I have found that you can re-grind or sharpen up the waffle pattern on the framing hammer with either a hardened steel (It will wear out fast) or titanium triangular file. This works especially well when you still have the majority of the pattern left and just have to freshen up a part or the entire face. Its kind of like dressing a normal hammer but with just an added step.

Having done many different types of remodels I've used the wonder bar countless times and I've actually used it hundreds of times to pull nails out. Most recently was on a roofing job. It was very handy in pulling up shingles and roofing nails so not sure where that thought came from. It works even better if you grind the edges just a little sharper. Love your videos!

I didnt think of this when watching the previous video on tool belts but it came to me during this one. I never really thought to the natural order of how a tool pouch should and could be organized. I have had several for projects around the home and farm and pretty much just threw in things on the fly. Great topic to put some order to things.

A cats paw was also a torture device used in the inquisition. It ripped the flesh off of the still living victim.

Another great video! The hive tool is so useful for salvage of fine moldings. A pair of them allows you to 'walk' them along the length of a molding, loosening it without splitting it. The big pry bar is called a pinch bar in my neck of the woods...

The cats paw is indispensable, but it should have been called a fawns hoof. Did you ever see a whitetail doe kick with her front paw? Looks just like the cats paw.

Good teaching Cody! I keep my Kitty (cats paw) close by all the time. When I was framing trusses I kept 2 of them in my bag. Great video!

just got your book today, thank you all. so far seems like a great book and loving the story.

Good shout on the Paw. Bought and used one this weekend. Really impressed!! Thanks

I watched a fella dismantle about a hundred pallets for a DIY project using a Wonderbar and a flat/back hammer. He drove himself insane! All he needed to do is get the 90 degree flat bar under the board and instead of pulling straight back, move the bar from SIDE TO SIDE. He went out and bought 3 additional pry bars (the latest things!) and continued to fail, cursing and spitting until he snapped and took a chain saw to everything! Whenever I think my life is a drag, I remember him. Merry Christmas all.

I've been going through your old videos and I must say, they are gems.

We have always called the wonder bar A flatbar

I love my wonder bar (we call them flats bars in the UK) I have a standard large and a small pocket 6" that is super useful. The large is also great for hanging doors, I have a bit of dowel with a screw in it that fits in the nail puller and turns the bar into a lifter, one end goes under the door and my foot on the other, makes lifting a door easy for 1 man.

And I got my book today!!!!! Thanks Cody and the Mrs.for all the hard work.

Excellent video! I like when you teach information that I was taught by my Dad and Grandpa growing up. I guess its an affirmation of sorts.

Those are useful everywhere. As a mechanic I have 2 different size wrecking bars, a wrecking bar with a thinner flat end, a cat's paw, 3 different size trim style bars, great for interior work such as dash and door panel trim, and yes I even have a wonder bar in my tool set. I use each one at least once a week, and each one is nearly indispensable for the purposes I've dedicated them to.

Your final three, I really do agree with you. I use these three when I tear apart used pallets to save the boards. it is amazing what people throw out. Really good video. Thanks from Ohio

I can't believe I just spent 15 minutes watching a video on a tool as simple as a cat's paw AND I enjoyed it AND I learned a few things. I will be adding one to my tool box. Great video! I'm looking forward to the rest of the series. Thanks for teaching those of us who didn't grow up in the homes of carpenters or mechanics the fundamentals and proper use of basic tools. May God bless you abundantly!

thanks cody, really appreciate your videos and gives me ideas of what i can improve. onward and upward.

Stanley tools actually trademarked the name Wonder Bar for their version of the tool. I remember buying one some 30 years ago to help a friend re-roof his house. Thanks for the video.

The trim bar is a must, in my opinion.Use two; one in each hand if you are doing lots of old trim that needs to be saved.

Making your own cat's paw would be a cool blacksmithing project

thanks Cody!

hi Cody first time comment , I have a fair bit of Knowledge regarding to most of your video segments I really appreciate the extended information & the thoughtful approach you put your information across , Wranglerstar is a pleasure to watch thank you from all in the land down under .

Thanks Cody, love these videos, I look forward to them!

Your videos are so high quality they could be on TV! Good on you WrangleStar. Merry Christmas! ~A long time subscriber

The trifecta, I like that! I carried a cat's paw and a flat bar in my bags for years. My preference for the big wrecking bar is to heat up the goose-neck end with an acetylene torch and bend it open to almost 90*. This mimics the shape of the flat bar. The tight bends on new wreckers are too narrow for me to use on much of anything. Opening them up really makes them much more useful. That's my tip of the week!

I have to agree with you to a point. Your "hybrid" is sold under the Shark brand and is one of my main go to tools in my pouch when remodeling. But I also have 4 different sizes of the "wunderbar", 4, 6 12 and 18 inches. These handle probably about 99% of my prying needs. My wife loves the wrecking bar. She gets a little crazy when we demo. Enjoy your project.

Hello Cody, I could not agree more with you. I have a Cats Paw from my Grand Father from the early 1900's. Still as useful as the ones at Home Depot. I carry two bars in my tool chest -- the Cats Paw and the Wonder Bar. The crowbar I keep in the shop for the time that I need to remove headers from walls or just swinging at plaster lath walls during a remodel. Wonderful Awesome video. Thank you!!! God Bless

the Wonder bar can be kept in the tool belt by inserting it into the belt loop of one of the tool bags , from your front to back.I really enjoy everything you show.You have A wonderful family.

I recently picked up a cats paw at my local Habitat Restore. What a great tool. I wish i had gotten one years ago. Now i need to pick up another or two in case i misplace this on.

Absolutely love these tool videos. Keep them coming Cody. Mrs. W was right, we like these detail videos on each part of your system.

I like the second cats paw tool you have with the wide part. I have all of these tools and I couldn't agree with you more, except I like the other tool better. I think it doesn't tear up the wood as bad.

I haven't seen you talk about a Breaker Bar in any of your other videos. They may not be needed for demo or remodeling, but any homestead, hobby farm or regular farm they are always needed!!

Cody, great video. I just can't resist one little tip about waffle head hammers. Having a few million hammer strikes under my belt I can offer two tips. 1. waffle heads work better dull. In fact the first thing I do is used another hammer to crush the waffles down. 2. If you find you hammer "slipping" on nail heads, rub it on the dirt. This removes the atomic level build up of steel dust. Once clean, it will have "traction" again. This is a very very old technique.

loving this series, great video, sound and detail...keep up the good work!

great info please keep then coming. truly appreciate the time and effort

Just to give a bit of my experience in 26 years of carpentry. When you buy a tool belt,don't get the fixed pouch bags. I like to be able to adjust the bags depending on the types of job. Also you can hold the wonder pry bar in the belt loop of one of the bags. Keeping the end with the 90degree end towards the front of you. The claws facing away from you. Love the channel! Keep up the good work.

Hi Cody, you might be interested in the catspaws out there that have a dimpler on the side which smashes the timber down around the nail head, especially if you are demoing gun spikes. You first use the dimpler then you use the straight part to pull the head a little then rip it right out with the angle head. Also we use Japanese bars in NZ that have a thinner profile so are more multipurpose. regards, Jason Walker.

I switched from Estwings to Stillettos a few years ago, would never go back!! Haven't had tennis elbow in years!!! Worth the investment! Keep up the awesome vids Cody

A 6 in 1 glaziers knife is a good one for fine removal. it is even thinner then the hive tool to start the removal yet stiff enough to pry it away from the wall. Also good to leave in after you open the gap for a real pry bar to protect the wall from the prying.

i replaced a 70 y/o Pella casement window last month & used every one of those pry bars, including the tiny little flat one that is great for removing fragile trim. the job turned out okay, & i hired out the remaining 14 windows or so. but im glad a did the 1st one. now i know how to do it. even if it isn't my specialty

Very good review Cody, well done, and I wait to see how you tighten up a cat paw. Thanks.

loving the videos...can I suggest with relation to braces or suspenders, I always chop off one of the back straps and fasten the remainder central, it stops them pinging off.

Stuff I already know and have but I still enjoyed the video, lol.

Regarding the Estwing hammers, I used a 30oz one nearly every day over the past three summers working in a timber roof truss plant, we used them for pre-embedment/positioning of metal connecting plates before we ran the truss through a roller press and I have to say they are the best hammers I'd ever used, they wiped the floor with stanley fatmax and numerous other brands and I never found RSI/pain due to vibration to be an issue. In fact I liked them so much I even bought one for myself. One thing I will say though is that it took a while breaking the grip in, ended up with some decent callouses to show for it

Very nice video! your education you are providing us all is better education than I have received in all my years of education via school, and that is truly saying a lot for I am but two classes away from graduating college... this is both a compliment for you and your Channel; but, also a sign of how truly terrible our education system is as a whole..... Thank you so much for all your hard work in making these videos for us Cody, God Bless you and your Family!

I love these videos Cody! I really do. Keep them coming.

I watched this thinking "who doesn't know this already?" Then I read the comments and thought about some of the videos I have seen and realized that this is not common knowledge any more. Thank you for taking the time to educate those in need.

Thanks for sharing these details. Very helpful.

One other often overlooked (& becoming hard to find nowadays) tool an Awl.

I have found for molding those little beekeeping pry bars like they sell in mann lake catalogs are awesome.

Great tool choices! Thanks for another excellent video.

Thank you mr. Wranglerstar, this is very useful information!

I've done a lot of demo over my lifetime and have used every one of those tools (and more). But in 68 years, I've never just sat down and contemplated their uses and how and why to use them. I guess it was a case of "just do it!" I learned a good bit from this video. ...And I'm sure I'll learn a good bit from the follow-up on maintaining them, because I've never maintained them!! LOL

I even use the wonder bar to lift doors while hanging them. I place the curved claw under the door and lift the door by stepping on the handle, all the while freeing my hands to guide the door into place. Gotta be mindful of the type of flooring though. A wonderful tool!

The hive tool in the UK only cost £5 so I think worth getting just because it so cheap and looks handy I’m going to buy one now thanks for showing it in the video.

Thanks Cody. Good work.

I keep my wonder bar in the loop of my left belt pouch that the actual belt goes through. It keeps it out of the way and it's easy to get in and out.

A small wonder bar (MUCH smaller than the one you have) is useful when trying to remove trim. The small one "gets it started" then you can use a "standard" one.

My fav version of this is the Exhumer by dead on tools

the second tool you discarded, I love. I have 3 of the in different sizes and I fined the so useful for so many things. I used them to as a leaver to hang doors, pull nails ans even cut plaster and mortar. I put mine through a lot lol. By the way in my area we call them a shark....... Don't ask me why bet we do. Thanks for the vid WS

Cats paw, also known as a "pussy foot". Love the video's just rec'd my Homesteading book and calendar yesterday.

I have canvas bags, for 8 years now. The place for the paw stretched out, so i salvaged a bit of fire pvc from the site and bulked up the top end of it so it would hold my paw. Necessity it the mother of invention....turns out, i can take that pvc sleeve out and use it as a cheater bar, plus it extends beyond the top of the paw so i don't get poked. I win. A stiletto steely or titanium fits in a 3/4 pipe.

Maybe it's a European thing but 9 out of 10 hammers here have a nail puller on one side of the hammer. Thanks for the video's Cody! The quality and content of your video's keep getting better every week. Keep up the good work and have fun with the remodel :)

Thanks , Nice comparisons and reasoning.

The Bahco 38 nail puller is also a good tool for this. The down side of it is its size, and that it can only pull nails from above.

I have been a carpenter my whole life. (I'm 24) My dad was a carpenter so Plenty of Summer's I was on a job site framing before legal working age. I do not use a hammer with a waffle pattern. I will beat it down or grind it down. Yes it catches well... Very well on your skin if you ever miss. It will literally tear your skin off. You also don't want it leaving a pattern on some things. Obviously if it's a finish product you can use a block of wood to have a bigger surface area if you're hitting on something or a nailset when driving in a nail but sometimes you just need a little tap or can't use/don't have the other items. I didn't comment on your last video but I also don't like having much in/on my tool belt. I think less is more. I only have one pouch, hammer holder, and a tape measure holder. Pouch on my left hip, hammer holder on my right hip, and tape on the back of my right hip. In my pouch I always have nailset, pencil/pen/sharpie, speed square, and knife. Pouches for job@hand

Truly first rate video. Makes me really hungry for a whole series like this. I NEED this. Keep it up.

I have a mini wonder bar, super useful!

thank you for the info.

Couldn't agree more Cody, Cats Paw and Wonderbar to start. Nice video.

Cody, Boy did you hit the nail on the head with your explaination of the tools. I can not tell you how many young guys show up with a 28 or 32 oz Estwing hammer and by the end of the day their arms are shot. You are right on target with the vibration transferring into you arms. I have been using a fiberglass hammer from Plumb for yrs. Unfortunatly they are made in china now. Last year I broke one claw off my 16oz plumb. I will not buy a hammer from china so I switched to a Vaughen, they are still made in the US. It is also good to have hammers of different head weights. I use a22 oz for framing and 16 oz for trim and smaller work. God Bless.

Great video Cody. I don't share all of your views but you're a stand up bloke and I really enjoy watching your videos.

Fun fact, the word for a cats paw in spanish is the same as the name for heroine. Idk how to spell it but its CHEEBA haha. I like to think that means savior.

When I was doing rehab work for a living, the Wonder Bar was my 'go to tool'. But, there is one big drawback with them, they have a habit of sprouting legs and walking off a job. I never had to worry about maintaining them because the one I owned always seemed to be rather new, hmm. . . perhaps it may have had something to do with my judgement concerning the help I was hiring. . . LOL. One thing I did discover to slow down this propensity in tools in general was to splatter them with BIN. This tenacious primer made them look just awful, but at least they were there when I needed them... and pawn shops usually won't give much for them either.

As you call it the wonder bar can pull out big nails in a pinch. you have to bend the nail over sideways and work it out that way. it's not optimal bit in a pinch gets the job done.

Great job!

Love the video, and only something small, because I know sometimes you like to correct yourself in small ways about the names of things (it doesn't really matter what you call it because everyone knows what you mean). But when you say "use it as a lever" you mean "use it as a fulcrum", when you're referring to the hammer as the pivot point (fulcrum) for the lever, which is the cat's paw.

Thank you..wish you would've included more footage of using the cat paw.

Estwing has bought out the Japanese company that makes the hybrid bar that you showed (or they are made in the same plant). It was years ago. But, with that said, they do make a bar very similar to the catspaw. It has the same head as the 90°, but the straight end has a thinner end. I have one from the original manufacturer in Japan - its about 25 yrs old. When I saw them in Home Depot (a few yrs back) with Estwing on them and the "Made in Japan" stamp on the side I bought another. They have about 4 different models. Excellent steel. The same company makes hammers as well. I have had about 6 of them, only have 2 now. You won't find those hammers in any store.

Your top 3 bars are the same as my top 3. ;-)

Most carpenters I know can't wait for the head on their framing hammer to turn smooth, with 99% of the production framing is gun nailed pounding nails isn't as common as it used to be. I agree with you on the 3 basic bars you should have when you are working with trim a narrow stiff bladed putty knife is usually enough to get the trim far enough away from the wall to get a wonder bar under it.

i own the second model bar you showed. Always called it the cats claw / whale tail :)

I work at Home Depot and didn't know much about tools when I started so I watch your videos to know what all the customers are talking about.

I love my "red" bar, great break down video for guys that might get lost in the tool isle.

A great and interesting video thank you for making them

I love breaking in tools, there are great for demolition work also.

A basic cats paw is worth its weight in gold!!

love the wonder bar!!!!

I have never ever been a fan of the flat bar. I always found it to be uncomfortable to hold, and it transmits too much vibration into my knuckles. You need to check out Estwings wrecking bar. Does everything the wonderbar does, and is extremely comfortable to hold.

Estwing has improved their cushion grip in the early 2000's. You may have been hitting hardened nails with your waffle faced framing nailer.....example air nailers use hardended nails. Check out the Estwing web page sometimes...they sell a lot of cool stuff not found in your big box stores.

Great video Cody.

Cody in the Midwest the wonder bar goes by name Blue bar which see the color of paint on the bar. Also the bar has not changed in over 60 yearsthe evolving are the high bread combo type bar but they have not replace the origanal.

i dont know if you have them around where you are from but around here walmart ( usually home depot too) carries a 3 bar set of small finish pry bars for just over $10 they are called Dasco pro. they are cheep and work well for the money

when I did demo work as a young man, I bent several flat bars. Super Bar, Wonder Bar, name brand, quality stuff, but they bent. Then I discovered a flat bar made from spring steel, still have that one.

Love my stiletto cats paw! Only cost me 40$ and it's the finest made one I've ever seen!

great show thanks for the new things lerned

My father got a sort of arthritis of using wood handled hammers when he was a house builder (he used them for 15 years every day ) now he is a sailor

would love to hear your thoughts on the Stiletto.