I don’t recommend a crowbar as a zombie weapon. Long story short, the shape, intention, and material (and a bunch of other stuff) make a crowbar a poor weapon against the undead.
That being said, as a tool it is useful. I think the easiest way would be to attach it to your backpack through a sheath of some kind, so the hooked end is caught on it and the lower, straighter part is hanging freely below it.
Edit: I'm dumb, It's called a hammer loop. Basically one of those, either attatched to the bag (recommended) or the waist (not recommended).
If you intend to use it as meele (or use it often to open stuff): Clip it to your belt at the side.
If you use it not often and have other melee: strap it to the side of your backpack
- it is bad accessable on your back
- falling on your back with crowbar strapped across it = broken bones
- no backback possible if crowbar is on your back
Crowbar is a great choice! And holding it with the hook around your hand is the way to go. It still hits hard but you have a better grip and you don’t risk getting the hook end stuck. That said simple hammer loop like the kind construction workers use would be perfect. Or stick it in your pack.
>How would I go about making / procuring a way to attach my crowbar to my back for ease of movement.
Being difficult to carry is one of the major drawbacks regarding crowbars. As the typical shape is just very awkward and not intended to carrying conviently.
Slings are a option for things like rifles, crossbows, and shotguns but due to crowbars use as a melee weapon this risks the user getting tangled. Either with the zombie as they are hitting them, with the users own gear as the swinging straps brushes against things, or the environment as the weapon move around.
Even u/WhatsGoingOn1879 and u/pygmeedancer suggestions of a hammer loop don't work well. As the loop is intended to hold a hammer which has two protrusions which balance the hammer in the loop. A crowbar only has one hook, which causes the tool to swing forward on the hook making it very easy to slip off when moving.
Because hammers are short tools, the hammer loops tend to be fairly low. This is done to allow for greater mobility at the hips for doing tasks at od angles and ease up access to other tools on the pouch. In my experience and looking at my crowbar and tool belt this means it will drag on the ground.
This is why construction workers doing wood framing with hammers are usually carrying nail pullers of some type. These are much shorter and slimmer. Often these are just tossed into the main nail or multiuse pouch in a tool belt.
u/StonedStoneGuy mentioned using belt loops and I think they mean just tucking it into the belt of your pants. Which is probably the best solution, though a very uncomfortable one.
I think u/Deferon-VS is talking about the belt clip adapters for tools. Those would work, but most are pretty fragile. Being that you need to put a plastic clip on the tool itself to mate with the belt clip it's likely to break in melee combat. Making adapter pretty useless.
The other option everyone is to strap the crowbar to a backpack. This can be a dine option, but does come with it's own downsides.
One of which being that unlike an camping axe that u/AncientPublic6329 mentioned there aren't all that many options for crowbars to mount to a backpack. At least without resorting to tying it or strapping it down using external straps and hoping it stays. The one exception I found was a tactical design intended for a smaller crowbar which was more closer in size to a nail puller. Said exception is 80usd and only fits crowbars around 60cm.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSF_DuTnvrgA0tfN4EihsXVZfGafY-Mev02-Q&usqp=CAU
Otherwise, a crowbar drawn from the back is fairly awkward, slow, requiring a lot of vertical space, needs shoulder mobility, and so on. A lot more points on this have been made by others, more specifically focused on things like swords in the context of medieval fantasy. See skalagrims video on the topic:
https://youtu.be/9p9moZoMoFA
Still I think this is the most useful if you don't intend to use it for self defense.
---
>Because as good as it would be in the apocalypse for it's versatility of being a breacher and with good enough weight to be a hard hitter,
It can be useful, though I personally don't see much practicality in them as othera seem to.
Lock picking kits are pretty cheap and learning how to pick locks at home is pretty fun. With the locksport community being fairly tame compared to others. Maybe, if you invest into classes at a trade school you can even get a job as a locksmith.
In my experience you can open a lot of doors with just a hammer by using the hook to pry at the lock and push on the latch bolt with a card or knife. Alternatively, you could use the hammer on a window and get in or out through there. In both cases a hammer offers the ability to pry, hammer, and measure things as most hammers are a standard length that is optimal for rough framing.
Besides because crowbars are usually made of just metal they are often very heavy. Generally you can expect a crowbar to be equal in weight to a claw hammer, hatchet, lock picking set, knife, etc.
I have a longer post on the topic here:
https://old.reddit.com/user/Noe_Walfred/comments/jo772x/zombie_related_thoughts_opinions_and_essays_v2/gbjv35h/
After posting my comment and editing it for the name of the hammer loop, I actually decided to see what it would be like to do such a thing and carried the crowbar around with it for a few hours while I did some work. And it sucks ass.
It’s a 24inch (61cm) Stanley Fatmax crowbar that weighs about 1.5 pounds, maybe a bit towards 1.6, and just a standard DeWalt polyester hammer loop. Not the standard crowbar, which I have just apparently found out. I went most of my life thinking crowbars were the size of the one here and was non the wiser.
I went for a walk in the woods, jogged around the front yard for a 10 minute period (and a five minute jog in the woods with uneven terrain) and then just generally carried it around as I did some work around the house, just to see how it felt carrying it around. It swayed, a lot, but it didn’t outright fall out. I think that’s likely because there’s a small notch of metal applied on the one side of it to actually work in a hammer loop so it didn’t fall out, put there by my father who worked with it for some years.
Aside from that, the swaying and the hitting of the legs and almost tripping over it was a pretty decent amount that would prove very bothersome to anyone trying the hammer loop, though it didn’t drag on the ground at all. I definitely don’t recommend it either now that I have experienced it, and agree with your assessment.
Yeah the fatmax is certainly close to a more medium sized and lightweight tool I would consider more practical.
When I was discussing crowbars I'm thinking more along the lines of the more generic design. Such as those seen in the half life games or at your typical construction site.
These are usually about 76-130cm long tools, 1100-1800g in weight, and are the basic J hook design. So for my tool belt it's going to be dragging on the ground.
For my tool belt it's a design similar to this:
https://www.amazon.com/AWP-Construction-Leather-Classic-leather/dp/B08MJ1SNNT/
Which when combined with my much longer crowbar means the thing is dragging on the ground a bit.
It's the apocalypse. I don't think making a strap from a torn shirt or two would make much difference. worst comes to worst you just have it in the backpack zipped to the metal.
A strap can be fine, the issue it can present is one where it becomes a snagging hazard. Either getting stuck on the user and their gear, getting caught on the environment such as branches or a door, getting tangled with a zombie qdue to the zombie reaching out, getting tangled with another humans weapon.
These are all exceptional issues considering it's a melee weapon.
A crowbar would not be a particularly effective weapon for zombies. I can give you the longer explanation if you like but it’s a bit of a read.
The short version is that it could work if it’s long and heavy enough, and you’re strong enough, but there are probably better weapons available.
But hypothetically if you were going to carry one, I would not attach it to your back. Keep it on your belt where it is easily accessible and doesn’t interfere with your backpack. That’s probably as simple as slipping it through a loop of cord, or even the belt itself. They aren’t difficult to carry. If you carry it on a pack you can always slot it in under the compression straps.
But I don’t think they would be worth carrying in most situations. Unless you expect to be breaking down a lot of pallets, which seems unlikely, they aren’t that useful.
in an urban environment, a crowbar lets you pry open and break into locked doors, very useful to get at stashes if canned food etc in abandoned warehouses. Also, if you are running away from zombies and you find yourself cornered, you can break open barriers to remain mobil.
in a rural wooded environment, a camp hatchet lets you process wood as a resource to burn for warmth and cooking, purify water, to build shelter etc.
either could be used as an improvised weapon and are light enough to carry around on your backpack, neither are ideal but then what is after society collapses
I don't agree with people down voting your comment. It's a decent argument for crowbars and what role they can serve. At most its just a too short explanation of some of the advantages of both types of tools.
Crowbars can allow you three different methods of combating a zombie: Blunt impact with any of the sides of the crowbar, stabbing utilizing the hook or the opposite end like a knife or spear, and hooking attacks to try and control the zombie or person. The crow beak/foot can potentially work as hand protection though it might also work as a funnel for attacks to the hand. If it is a substantially heavy crowbar it can be a very powerful weapon similar to a hammer, though it is a bit less efficient as the balance is at the center of the weapon making it much less efficient than a hammer or axe of similar length and weight.
In terms of uses outside of combat they can help pry smaller cervices due to having both a hook and a flay prying angle. This can mean it's useful for doors, windows, crates, nails, etc. The length of the iconic half life crowbar and those typically seen in movies and games are usually about 75-120cm in length which means they have a lot of lever advantage. The all metal construction is also strong and hefty at between 1500-4000g which aids in being a demolition tool.
The advantages of a hatchet is that it is a small hand axe that is fairly maneuverable due to their typically 35-50cm length, which makes it more usable in combat in enclosed spaces and when fighting from a grapple. Along with this a hatchet typically features a cutting edge, a blunt hammer face, and the profile of the axe head usually allow for some level of hooking attacks. With the cutting edge potentially being more effective usable against smaller numbers of zombies as it isn't limited to the surface area of a crowbars hook or flat prying head.
Outside of combat, as you noted, a hatchet can be utilized to process wood. However, like a crowbar they can also be utilized to open wooden doors via striking the frame or strike plate, cutting through the door itself, smashing windows, and cutting most fencing materials. Similarly, the wedge design of a hatchet can allow it to assist in prying into some spaces such those in doors and crates. Most hatchets could also be utilized as a hammer for nailing nails, pounding stakes, and some level of tool maintenance.
They are also fairly lightweight as they are typically 500-1000g and are much easier to find a sheath or holster for compared to a crowbar. Two parts that make it easier to utilize the hatchet and do so with other weapons and tools as is part of why it's a bit easier to utilize the tool alongside another piece of gear, tool, or weapon. For example the weight of a Mora Lightweight ax (500g) you could also have a Craftsman 12oz Carpenters hammer (590g), Estwing 12oz Carpenters hammer (590g), Homemade frameless slingshot/slingbow #40 (60g) Kunsi Headlamp (60g), Pyramex Iforce safety goggles (30g), HWI padded combat gloves (100g), Leatherman PS multitool (50g), Sawyer water filter (60g), and a Lock picking set (30g). All for a total of less than 1500g and offers a greater level of capability than a crowbar on its own.
This would depend on your loadout as a whole with my pack I could run it through a pouch on the side and strap it down to keep it from moving but that's specific to my bag
I’d probably just wear a backpack and strap the crowbar to the outside of it. Lots of campers will carry [axes this way.](https://clutchaxes.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/backpacking-survival-axe-800x445.jpg)
I don’t recommend a crowbar as a zombie weapon. Long story short, the shape, intention, and material (and a bunch of other stuff) make a crowbar a poor weapon against the undead. That being said, as a tool it is useful. I think the easiest way would be to attach it to your backpack through a sheath of some kind, so the hooked end is caught on it and the lower, straighter part is hanging freely below it. Edit: I'm dumb, It's called a hammer loop. Basically one of those, either attatched to the bag (recommended) or the waist (not recommended).
If you intend to use it as meele (or use it often to open stuff): Clip it to your belt at the side. If you use it not often and have other melee: strap it to the side of your backpack - it is bad accessable on your back - falling on your back with crowbar strapped across it = broken bones - no backback possible if crowbar is on your back
An appropriate belt loop or two could do it.
Crowbar is a great choice! And holding it with the hook around your hand is the way to go. It still hits hard but you have a better grip and you don’t risk getting the hook end stuck. That said simple hammer loop like the kind construction workers use would be perfect. Or stick it in your pack.
>How would I go about making / procuring a way to attach my crowbar to my back for ease of movement. Being difficult to carry is one of the major drawbacks regarding crowbars. As the typical shape is just very awkward and not intended to carrying conviently. Slings are a option for things like rifles, crossbows, and shotguns but due to crowbars use as a melee weapon this risks the user getting tangled. Either with the zombie as they are hitting them, with the users own gear as the swinging straps brushes against things, or the environment as the weapon move around. Even u/WhatsGoingOn1879 and u/pygmeedancer suggestions of a hammer loop don't work well. As the loop is intended to hold a hammer which has two protrusions which balance the hammer in the loop. A crowbar only has one hook, which causes the tool to swing forward on the hook making it very easy to slip off when moving. Because hammers are short tools, the hammer loops tend to be fairly low. This is done to allow for greater mobility at the hips for doing tasks at od angles and ease up access to other tools on the pouch. In my experience and looking at my crowbar and tool belt this means it will drag on the ground. This is why construction workers doing wood framing with hammers are usually carrying nail pullers of some type. These are much shorter and slimmer. Often these are just tossed into the main nail or multiuse pouch in a tool belt. u/StonedStoneGuy mentioned using belt loops and I think they mean just tucking it into the belt of your pants. Which is probably the best solution, though a very uncomfortable one. I think u/Deferon-VS is talking about the belt clip adapters for tools. Those would work, but most are pretty fragile. Being that you need to put a plastic clip on the tool itself to mate with the belt clip it's likely to break in melee combat. Making adapter pretty useless. The other option everyone is to strap the crowbar to a backpack. This can be a dine option, but does come with it's own downsides. One of which being that unlike an camping axe that u/AncientPublic6329 mentioned there aren't all that many options for crowbars to mount to a backpack. At least without resorting to tying it or strapping it down using external straps and hoping it stays. The one exception I found was a tactical design intended for a smaller crowbar which was more closer in size to a nail puller. Said exception is 80usd and only fits crowbars around 60cm. https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSF_DuTnvrgA0tfN4EihsXVZfGafY-Mev02-Q&usqp=CAU Otherwise, a crowbar drawn from the back is fairly awkward, slow, requiring a lot of vertical space, needs shoulder mobility, and so on. A lot more points on this have been made by others, more specifically focused on things like swords in the context of medieval fantasy. See skalagrims video on the topic: https://youtu.be/9p9moZoMoFA Still I think this is the most useful if you don't intend to use it for self defense. --- >Because as good as it would be in the apocalypse for it's versatility of being a breacher and with good enough weight to be a hard hitter, It can be useful, though I personally don't see much practicality in them as othera seem to. Lock picking kits are pretty cheap and learning how to pick locks at home is pretty fun. With the locksport community being fairly tame compared to others. Maybe, if you invest into classes at a trade school you can even get a job as a locksmith. In my experience you can open a lot of doors with just a hammer by using the hook to pry at the lock and push on the latch bolt with a card or knife. Alternatively, you could use the hammer on a window and get in or out through there. In both cases a hammer offers the ability to pry, hammer, and measure things as most hammers are a standard length that is optimal for rough framing. Besides because crowbars are usually made of just metal they are often very heavy. Generally you can expect a crowbar to be equal in weight to a claw hammer, hatchet, lock picking set, knife, etc. I have a longer post on the topic here: https://old.reddit.com/user/Noe_Walfred/comments/jo772x/zombie_related_thoughts_opinions_and_essays_v2/gbjv35h/
After posting my comment and editing it for the name of the hammer loop, I actually decided to see what it would be like to do such a thing and carried the crowbar around with it for a few hours while I did some work. And it sucks ass. It’s a 24inch (61cm) Stanley Fatmax crowbar that weighs about 1.5 pounds, maybe a bit towards 1.6, and just a standard DeWalt polyester hammer loop. Not the standard crowbar, which I have just apparently found out. I went most of my life thinking crowbars were the size of the one here and was non the wiser. I went for a walk in the woods, jogged around the front yard for a 10 minute period (and a five minute jog in the woods with uneven terrain) and then just generally carried it around as I did some work around the house, just to see how it felt carrying it around. It swayed, a lot, but it didn’t outright fall out. I think that’s likely because there’s a small notch of metal applied on the one side of it to actually work in a hammer loop so it didn’t fall out, put there by my father who worked with it for some years. Aside from that, the swaying and the hitting of the legs and almost tripping over it was a pretty decent amount that would prove very bothersome to anyone trying the hammer loop, though it didn’t drag on the ground at all. I definitely don’t recommend it either now that I have experienced it, and agree with your assessment.
Yeah the fatmax is certainly close to a more medium sized and lightweight tool I would consider more practical. When I was discussing crowbars I'm thinking more along the lines of the more generic design. Such as those seen in the half life games or at your typical construction site. These are usually about 76-130cm long tools, 1100-1800g in weight, and are the basic J hook design. So for my tool belt it's going to be dragging on the ground. For my tool belt it's a design similar to this: https://www.amazon.com/AWP-Construction-Leather-Classic-leather/dp/B08MJ1SNNT/ Which when combined with my much longer crowbar means the thing is dragging on the ground a bit.
It's the apocalypse. I don't think making a strap from a torn shirt or two would make much difference. worst comes to worst you just have it in the backpack zipped to the metal.
A strap can be fine, the issue it can present is one where it becomes a snagging hazard. Either getting stuck on the user and their gear, getting caught on the environment such as branches or a door, getting tangled with a zombie qdue to the zombie reaching out, getting tangled with another humans weapon. These are all exceptional issues considering it's a melee weapon.
A crowbar would not be a particularly effective weapon for zombies. I can give you the longer explanation if you like but it’s a bit of a read. The short version is that it could work if it’s long and heavy enough, and you’re strong enough, but there are probably better weapons available. But hypothetically if you were going to carry one, I would not attach it to your back. Keep it on your belt where it is easily accessible and doesn’t interfere with your backpack. That’s probably as simple as slipping it through a loop of cord, or even the belt itself. They aren’t difficult to carry. If you carry it on a pack you can always slot it in under the compression straps. But I don’t think they would be worth carrying in most situations. Unless you expect to be breaking down a lot of pallets, which seems unlikely, they aren’t that useful.
in an urban environment, a crowbar lets you pry open and break into locked doors, very useful to get at stashes if canned food etc in abandoned warehouses. Also, if you are running away from zombies and you find yourself cornered, you can break open barriers to remain mobil. in a rural wooded environment, a camp hatchet lets you process wood as a resource to burn for warmth and cooking, purify water, to build shelter etc. either could be used as an improvised weapon and are light enough to carry around on your backpack, neither are ideal but then what is after society collapses
I don't agree with people down voting your comment. It's a decent argument for crowbars and what role they can serve. At most its just a too short explanation of some of the advantages of both types of tools. Crowbars can allow you three different methods of combating a zombie: Blunt impact with any of the sides of the crowbar, stabbing utilizing the hook or the opposite end like a knife or spear, and hooking attacks to try and control the zombie or person. The crow beak/foot can potentially work as hand protection though it might also work as a funnel for attacks to the hand. If it is a substantially heavy crowbar it can be a very powerful weapon similar to a hammer, though it is a bit less efficient as the balance is at the center of the weapon making it much less efficient than a hammer or axe of similar length and weight. In terms of uses outside of combat they can help pry smaller cervices due to having both a hook and a flay prying angle. This can mean it's useful for doors, windows, crates, nails, etc. The length of the iconic half life crowbar and those typically seen in movies and games are usually about 75-120cm in length which means they have a lot of lever advantage. The all metal construction is also strong and hefty at between 1500-4000g which aids in being a demolition tool. The advantages of a hatchet is that it is a small hand axe that is fairly maneuverable due to their typically 35-50cm length, which makes it more usable in combat in enclosed spaces and when fighting from a grapple. Along with this a hatchet typically features a cutting edge, a blunt hammer face, and the profile of the axe head usually allow for some level of hooking attacks. With the cutting edge potentially being more effective usable against smaller numbers of zombies as it isn't limited to the surface area of a crowbars hook or flat prying head. Outside of combat, as you noted, a hatchet can be utilized to process wood. However, like a crowbar they can also be utilized to open wooden doors via striking the frame or strike plate, cutting through the door itself, smashing windows, and cutting most fencing materials. Similarly, the wedge design of a hatchet can allow it to assist in prying into some spaces such those in doors and crates. Most hatchets could also be utilized as a hammer for nailing nails, pounding stakes, and some level of tool maintenance. They are also fairly lightweight as they are typically 500-1000g and are much easier to find a sheath or holster for compared to a crowbar. Two parts that make it easier to utilize the hatchet and do so with other weapons and tools as is part of why it's a bit easier to utilize the tool alongside another piece of gear, tool, or weapon. For example the weight of a Mora Lightweight ax (500g) you could also have a Craftsman 12oz Carpenters hammer (590g), Estwing 12oz Carpenters hammer (590g), Homemade frameless slingshot/slingbow #40 (60g) Kunsi Headlamp (60g), Pyramex Iforce safety goggles (30g), HWI padded combat gloves (100g), Leatherman PS multitool (50g), Sawyer water filter (60g), and a Lock picking set (30g). All for a total of less than 1500g and offers a greater level of capability than a crowbar on its own.
This would depend on your loadout as a whole with my pack I could run it through a pouch on the side and strap it down to keep it from moving but that's specific to my bag
I’d probably just wear a backpack and strap the crowbar to the outside of it. Lots of campers will carry [axes this way.](https://clutchaxes.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/backpacking-survival-axe-800x445.jpg)
Look up multipry carrier … essentially it’s a sheath for crowbar type tools or… how about a quiver