I went to work for Buddy in early 1982 and stayed there until sometime in the mid 90's; left for a little while, then came back for a few years. If Buddy ever reads this, he will know who I am. He showed me how to do the machining on the sleeves & collars and the machining and knurling on the shafts. Except for the initial welding of the collar to the sleeve that a good welder did initially, but which I also learned how to do, I soon was doing every step of the process....and there were a lot of individual machining steps to put out a finished power bar. That first generation Capps bar that you showed that had the spacer rings knurled over was done before I took over the knurling...I do not claim that one...LOL..!! We sold thousands & thousands...maybe tens of thousands... of that style with the end cap. Then Buddy went with the inside snap rings that fit on either side of a spacer. That took some very precise and consistent machining to maintain a very close fit to the spacer ( which had to maintain a thickness that could only vary by just a few thousandths ) which determined how much back & forth play the shaft had inside the sleeves. We sold thousands & thousands...tens of thousands ( ??? ) of those too. It is possible that the 3rd bar with the snap rings could very well have been made by my hands. Then the all important knurling: not too aggressive to where it would rip the flesh from your hands & fingers, but not too smooth to where it didn't provide an adequate grip. I took a great deal of personal pride and attention to every bar that I knurled. The individual sections of knurling were exactly the same for every bar. The space rings were precisely consistent in width on every bar. I kept a very close eye on the condition of the little knurls and changed them out when I saw the knurling starting to lose it's fine-tuned grip. I remember when a big company put in an order for 900 TPB's, then immediately ordered another 900 TPB's ( or maybe it was two combined orders at one time ), and then added another 900 TPB's. It took us two full years to fill that order. I had crates & crates & crates of finished sleeves stacked up. Then, all those shafts...it was quite a sight. One of Buddy's resellers gave me the name "Bar-Tender". Yep....I was.
Nice.. i was always looking for someone to inform me on the differences between the all american bar and the starting strength bar.. knurling collars.sleeves. i own the all american in bare steal and love that bar. I personally dont like an over agressive knurl and those thick collars are sweet .specially on rogue racks.
Also for the collars, a common complaint with the 28.5s was the additional flex b/c of the thinner diameter than 29 in conjunction with the super fat collars that ended up pushing the distance between the plates out a few inches, which in turn would lead to a bar have more flex under heavy loads. Thats why people look at the Eleiko (or other IPF comp bars) as harder to pull on since collars are so thin.
I’m going to look again, but I think I’ve used a Mack Texas Power Bar at a gym in my state. It has the stamp, wide center knurling and thick ring mark.
I've been waiting for this one! seems like a good video to transcribe and elaborate into a blog post too and take some high quality photos to highlight the differences. Also I bet the reason the gen 5 29mm bar has thinner collars is to make up for the weight gained by the thicker shaft.
My local YMCA here in Grand Prairie TX has a barbell with sleeves exactly like the Mac and the gen 1. No markings, but no center knurl either. No clue what it is.
I went to work for Buddy in early 1982 and stayed there until sometime in the mid 90's; left for a little while, then came back for a few years. If Buddy ever reads this, he will know who I am. He showed me how to do the machining on the sleeves & collars and the machining and knurling on the shafts. Except for the initial welding of the collar to the sleeve that a good welder did initially, but which I also learned how to do, I soon was doing every step of the process....and there were a lot of individual machining steps to put out a finished power bar. That first generation Capps bar that you showed that had the spacer rings knurled over was done before I took over the knurling...I do not claim that one...LOL..!! We sold thousands & thousands...maybe tens of thousands... of that style with the end cap.
Then Buddy went with the inside snap rings that fit on either side of a spacer. That took some very precise and consistent machining to maintain a very close fit to the spacer ( which had to maintain a thickness that could only vary by just a few thousandths ) which determined how much back & forth play the shaft had inside the sleeves. We sold thousands & thousands...tens of thousands ( ??? ) of those too. It is possible that the 3rd bar with the snap rings could very well have been made by my hands.
Then the all important knurling: not too aggressive to where it would rip the flesh from your hands & fingers, but not too smooth to where it didn't provide an adequate grip. I took a great deal of personal pride and attention to every bar that I knurled. The individual sections of knurling were exactly the same for every bar. The space rings were precisely consistent in width on every bar. I kept a very close eye on the condition of the little knurls and changed them out when I saw the knurling starting to lose it's fine-tuned grip.
I remember when a big company put in an order for 900 TPB's, then immediately ordered another 900 TPB's ( or maybe it was two combined orders at one time ), and then added another 900 TPB's. It took us two full years to fill that order. I had crates & crates & crates of finished sleeves stacked up. Then, all those shafts...it was quite a sight.
One of Buddy's resellers gave me the name "Bar-Tender". Yep....I was.
@@marbleman52 wow, that's awesome! Really glad you found this video and left the comment. Great bit of history
Nice.. i was always looking for someone to inform me on the differences between the all american bar and the starting strength bar.. knurling collars.sleeves. i own the all american in bare steal and love that bar. I personally dont like an over agressive knurl and those thick collars are sweet .specially on rogue racks.
I'm not sure if I'm more excited for the collection or to hear Tommy and Tanner together.
It's a party
I'm pleased to see you were able to get your hands on all these shafts.
Can't stop touching them!
Shaftmasters
Also for the collars, a common complaint with the 28.5s was the additional flex b/c of the thinner diameter than 29 in conjunction with the super fat collars that ended up pushing the distance between the plates out a few inches, which in turn would lead to a bar have more flex under heavy loads. Thats why people look at the Eleiko (or other IPF comp bars) as harder to pull on since collars are so thin.
Here's to hoping 2024 is finally the year Buddy Capps comes on the pod, even for a brief moment in time to complete the Texas Power Bar Timeline!
🤞🏻
Midnight release here in Central Standard Time...keeping us on our toes
Rule number 1 of Massenomics marketing... always keep them guessing
This is a sweet collection with some great American history 🇺🇸
Niiiice! Well done! lol. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen indeed. 2nd gen is my favorite. Might just be my particular 2nd gen, but I use it the most.
I’m going to look again, but I think I’ve used a Mack Texas Power Bar at a gym in my state. It has the stamp, wide center knurling and thick ring mark.
It should have the stamp on the end, but could be very faded
Geeking out over your collection 🏋♂️
I’ve been eyeing the 29 mm bar for a while. I used to lift with a gen 4 bar so that’s my favorite for sentimental reasons.
I've been waiting for this one! seems like a good video to transcribe and elaborate into a blog post too and take some high quality photos to highlight the differences. Also I bet the reason the gen 5 29mm bar has thinner collars is to make up for the weight gained by the thicker shaft.
I was looking for a video more about buddy capps do you have any recommendations?
Passion, Drive and Purpose.
YES
Tanner emails gym members:
So what equipment do you guys want to buy for the gym next? Oh somebody said another vintage Texas powerbar?
😂 accurate
Love some good hot shaft talk.
Mine is Mac barbell grand
Prairie with texas stamp on end. Not sure what date was made
My local YMCA here in Grand Prairie TX has a barbell with sleeves exactly like the Mac and the gen 1. No markings, but no center knurl either. No clue what it is.
Yep!
Yeah buddy
Hope you're having fun at the arnold
Too much!
I'm picking the Twins
An uncontested 1st comment 🥇 is very strange…
You are always prepared. I knew it would pay off eventually