In my experience, it has always helped to have key reminders on evolutions that were low frequency but have high risk consequences of failure. Now some will say that forcing a door is not low frequency, but those tend to be departments or groups that either train frequently or experience a lot of jobs. Both training frequently and experiencing multiple calls tend to lead to operational confidence and success. Others may argue that forcing a door is not high risk but I disagree—especially if it were me or my family behind that door who needed rescuing. I understand that in a variety of situations, forcing a door on the fire department side causes little personal threat (unless you are forcibly trying to exit a building). However, for our law enforcement personnel everytime they get in front of a door they face the “Fatal Funnel” which is very dangerous for them personally.
So why the long-winded lead in? Tool preparation is vitally important to operational success regardless of your district, city or state. An optimized tool maximizes your skill set, creates consistent feedback, and becomes a reliable tool and not a negligible one. Hence, training consistently on different doors provides the feedback necessary to KNOW what the tool is doing and whether it needs to be tuned. One begets the other.
So with that, tools must be prepped and ready because when the moment arises there is no time to think “I should have or I wish I had.” Why didn’t my tool come ready out of the box? Many halligans come to us unmodified and tuning them simply makes an already good tool a better tool. It also reminds us, the operator, of how deep we are into a door allowing us to gauge if we need to set the tool deeper or do we need to stop to avoid driving the tool through the door stop. If your tool came modified then you are one step ahead.
Here is the down and dirty of tool preparation. It doesn’t take long and requires a couple tools to make the process faster.
Tools required:
Measuring tape or ruler
Sharpie black pen
4.5” angle grinder
4.5” cut off wheel
4.5” larger grinding wheel (0.25” or wider)
4 or 4.5” 60 or 80 grit flapper pad
If for any reason the terms we are staging in this article are foreign to you please refer to our article on “Handshaking Your Fork” it has a list of the parts of the halligan tool.
First mark then grind and as I have heard “measure twice, cuss once.“
Adze
Adze tip grind - Many adze have a curve to them and some come with no chamfer on the end of the tool. Some come with a chamfer that is actually a disadvantage to the tool. It is this chamfer we need to fix. If the chamfer is seen from the top of the adze it is correct. If the chamfer comes from the bottom of the adze it is incorrect and will come out of the door during operations.
To fix this issue simply take the 4.5” angle grinder and cut off the old grind. Now please keep in mind that there are some tools that may not have a long enough taper to do this without adversely affecting the tool. I have done this on Paratech, Pro Bars, and others with great success but I would not recommend this carte blanche for every bar as I haven’t used/modified each one personally .
Once the tool has a flat aspect on the end use the angle grinder with the flapper pad to slowly grind a new chamfer into the end from the top down. The chamfer doesn’t need to be winder then ¼ to ⅜” wide.
Marking the tool - Using a Measuring tape or ruler measure the adze from the tip to 1.75” and make a mark on the side of the adz. Do this on both sides of the adze.
Now with the 4.5” angle grinder and the cut off wheel make a slight cut into the adze, just enough to make out a clear mark. Do not go deep this is just a line to be seen. You should make 2 lines in this process
Fork
Marking the tool - Using a Measuring tape or ruler measure the Adze from the tip to 1.75” and make a mark on the side of the fork. Again from the tip make a second mark at the junction of the two fork tins (or the crotch) of the tool. Do this on both sides of the fork.
Now with the 4.5” angle grinder and the cut off wheel make a slight cut into the fork , just enough to make out a clear mark. Do not go deep this is just a line to be seen. You should make 4 lines in this process.
Shoulder the fork you will need the angle grinder and all the wheels for it. First , note that you can always remove more material but you cannot put it back so please take your time on this process.
First, using the cut off wheel, cut straight across the top of the fork where it meets the bar to create the flat top on the fork. You are only creating a line with the tool so don’t go deep. This will help you see the finished product. Do both sides.
Now cut from the shaft down and clip off the tab created by the first cut. This should be perpendicular to the fork creating the shoulder. Do both sides. This should create a rough shoulder on both sides of the fork.
Now is the time you can use the rough (0.25 or wider grinding wheel ) to flatten both aspects of the shoulder if there is left over from the first two cuts and there likely is. Be careful not to grind too deeply on the shaft side so as to not weaken the tool.
Once the rough grinding is done use the flapper pad to smooth the rough lines and clean the tool.
Fork taper - I know many of my friends as well as myself have spent time changing the taper of our forks on older tools to make them work better in our respective places of work. If you choose to do this, take your time and test as you go. The thinner the fork the less strength to some extent so take your time. In my case this has alway taken more time and usually needed to be done on less “finished” tools.
Final thoughts - Halligans like any tool will wear down and eventually be less effective. Just like a good chisel with time and work they just become worn and since our goal is life safety we can not have worn tools on our vehicles since it could affect operational success. I would highly recommend if there is a training staff that they keep a couple sets of training tools for the operators to use during training. This will ensure that the first responder’s tools aren't worn down and ready for use. The staff can request to see the tools and ensure they are prepped and ready ensuring operational readiness. This lengthens tool life and increases the likelihood of success at an event.
Now go out and breach some doors.
Chuck