Vintage Iron Thread

[AttyGuy]

Hey man! Return that crap bar! Where are you located? I would be happy to help a firefighter and ship you one of my York bars. Me as my hoarder-self has around 10 York bars sitting around unused. I'm 40 mins from York, PA so this area is flooded with York stuff, pretty easy to find one on craigslist around here for $150 or less. I guess just let me know what style York bar you are looking for? A regular 70-80's split sleeve? Or the older fat inner collar type? I will put the bar in a 4"PVC and ship to you. I wont buy a bar unless it's straight so they are all straight. I do have 1 older York bar with a VERY slight bend that I'd sell for $50 shipped. Otherwise $100 shipped for any of the others.

Dude, you showed me everything but your shaft collection the last time I was there. You held out on me. I'll be making a run your way soon to pick up the flooring. What bars do you have?

[nissan11]

Hey man! Return that crap bar! Where are you located? I would be happy to help a firefighter and ship you one of my York bars. Me as my hoarder-self has around 10 York bars sitting around unused. I'm 40 mins from York, PA so this area is flooded with York stuff, pretty easy to find one on craigslist around here for $150 or less. I guess just let me know what style York bar you are looking for? A regular 70-80's split sleeve? Or the older fat inner collar type? I will put the bar in a 4"PVC and ship to you. I wont buy a bar unless it's straight so they are all straight. I do have 1 older York bar with a VERY slight bend that I'd sell for $50 shipped. Otherwise $100 shipped for any of the others.

Pm sent!

[nissan11]

I told myself a long time ago I was going to stay away from standard bars and plates but when I saw these I had to make the 1 hr drive and have them. The seller was an older gentleman who claims they are all york bars. Is there any way to confirm that?

[SkinnySquats]

I told myself a long time ago I was going to stay away from standard bars and plates but when I saw these I had to make the 1 hr drive and have them. The seller was an older gentleman who claims they are all york bars. Is there any way to confirm that?

Possible, but there are a lot of mismatched collars on these bars.

[SkinnySquats]

Yeah, the octagonal collar and the line of what appear to be holes in the sleeve.....interesting



BoHo Bent Pressing with octagonal collar:

Those are super cool, but not the octagonal collars I was talking about. Will post S&H ads tonight.

[nissan11]

I'm leaning towards believing him because he had three complete sets of york standard plates he did not want to sell.

[AttyGuy]

King. . . . Of All Standards!

[nissan11]

King. . . . Of All Standards!

Yeah?

[AttyGuy]

Yeah?

Skinny is the king of all standards.

[nissan11]

Skinny, are you saying it's impossible to ID standard bars?

[Doctor Morbius]

York used 1 1/16" bar stock on their 5' and 6' bars. In the middle picture, the middle bar does not appear to have York inner collars. Seems like all of the old York collars had their logo on them.

[nissan11]

York used 1 1/16" bar stock on their 5' and 6' bars. In the middle picture, the middle bar does not appear to have York inner collars. Seems like all of the old York collars had their logo on them.

Only one bar is 1 1/16". So the other two are to remain unidentified?

[Doctor Morbius]

Have some old plates to show. These are the only 4 JC Higgings/Sears Roebuck plates I have. A friend's dad gave them to me a few years back.

[Doctor Morbius]

Up next are some RSCo 2.5 lb plates. Not sure why I have 5 as I typically get things in even numbers. These may have been given to me by the same friend's dad that gave me the Higgins plates above. Or they were given to me by a cousin who was getting rid of his stuff.

The casting of these reminds me very much of some 2.5 lb Healthways plates I have.

[Doctor Morbius]

Here are some RSCo 5 lb and 10 lb plates. One of the RSCo plates says Joilette Ill while the other two do not.

The two 10 lb plates on the bottom are unmarked except for the poundage and the number 4 on the backs of the plates. While the RSCO and unmarked 10 lb plates appear to be the same, they are not the same dimensions. The unmarked plates are a slightly larger diameter.

[AttyGuy]

Morbius, you are afflicted by the vintage iron disease as well!

[Doctor Morbius]

Morbius, you are afflicted by the vintage iron disease as well!

Indeed I am. I have "the barbells" as Granny Clampett would say.

[AttyGuy]

Indeed I am. I have "the barbells" as Granny Clampett would say.

Yeah. She had the Clap, so I hear. . . .

[SkinnySquats]

Skinny, are you saying it's impossible to ID standard bars?

It's nearly impossible to ID a bare standard bars because 99% of them do not have any markings. What can help to ID is:

Bar length.
Bar diameter. (1", 1-1/16", 1-1/8")
Inner & outer collars.
Rotating sleeve length & knurling.

All 3 bars appear to be missing rotating sleeves. (They would have come with them since there isn't any knurling.) Those would have confirmed York or not, since York made distinctive sleeves based on era. York switched to 1" diameter bars at some point in the 60's, so did Healthways.

So to answer your question, no it is not impossible to ID standard bars, but in your case it is because you are missing parts & have a mishmash of York and generic Healthways style collars.

[dexter000]

It's nearly impossible to ID a bare standard bars because 99% of them do not have any markings. What can help to ID is:

Bar length.
Bar diameter. (1", 1-1/16", 1-1/8")
Inner & outer collars.
Rotating sleeve length & knurling.

All 3 bars appear to be missing rotating sleeves. (They would have come with them since there isn't any knurling.) Those would have confirmed York or not, since York made distinctive sleeves based on era. York switched to 1" diameter bars at some point in the 60's, so did Healthways.

So to answer your question, no it is not impossible to ID standard bars, but in your case it is because you are missing parts & have a mishmash of York and generic Healthways style collars.

Concise and informative! You do deserve the title of the king of standards.

[SkinnySquats]

Bill Hinbern who has Milo equipment and catalogs stated he thinks they are pre 1935 Milo plates. These were from the Fairmount Foundry which means there's also a chance that they were plates sold by Mark Berry's "Berry Barbell Company". Berry had his plates cast at the same foundry.

Bill Hinbern is an iron legend, so who am I to argue? However, let's play devil's advocate anyways.. Show me a Milo catalog that indicates Milo made 100lb pancake plates. Keep in mind George Jowett & York were also having their iron cast in the 30's. (See Jowett entries in 'Muscletown U.S.A.' & York collection at Stark Center in Austin.)

Is it possible those plates were sold by York under the Hercules name or even the Milo name after they purchased it? I say yes.

June 1936 Strength & Health


'Milo Outfit' September 1941 Strength & Health


Octagonal standard collars that were sold by Milo & York


Regardless of whether Milo or York, they are definitely old & hard to find!

[SkinnySquats]

Concise and informative! You do deserve the title of the king of standards.

I think I have a problem.

[SkinnySquats]

Some baby bells.

[AttyGuy]

I think I have a problem.

You are uncertain?

[AttyGuy]

Concise and informative! You do deserve the title of the king of standards.

It beats "Mr. One Inch."

[dexter000]

It beats "Mr. One Inch."

Prof 1".

[daniel327]

I think I have a problem.

I concur. You're going to need more space.

[AttyGuy]

I concur. You're going to need more space.

I've been to Skinny's. He needed more space a year ago. . . .

[matrix563]

I've been to Skinny's. He needed more space years ago. . . .

fixed

course thats probably all of us lol

[DamonB82]

Never seen these, standard size too