The Dalluge 24-inch trim demo bar is one of those tools that just feels right. I saw it at the National Hardware Show in May, and it seemed well-designed for all types of activity—from demo to shimming to levering to pulling fasteners to scraping and wedging.
The tool—called Da Bar—is nice and light and has a chrome finish. While the website also clearly states that the tool is “forged and tempered for strength,” I had to stick a magnet to it to see if it was steel rather than titanium like other Dalluge items.
(Side note: My son had just come home from camp so I showed him the magnet trick, which he thought was cool, so a micro-win there.)
The prying surfaces are 2 1/4 inches wide, and while I’m sure that’s easier on drywall than a typical bar, I wouldn’t pry trim too far from a stud. The nail-puller slot looks like it’d be great prying broken screws out on a deck re-skin—the last time I did one, I used the side puller on my Vaughan hammer (which I pretty much love).
And the bar is long enough that you can get a decent reach and leverage without the tool being too long to manage. While Vaughan told me it was a good tool for removing deck boards—in fact insisted and told me I did my last deck wrong because I didn’t use this tool I didn’t know existed—it is three pieces and I don’t know whether that construction will affect its durability.
We’ll find out though. Vaughn sent us two and they’re busy tearing it up as we speak.
The website says the tool was created in Japan to Dalluge standards. It costs $35.
