2025 Barbell Guide: Iron Skull Power Bar vs. Blue Collar Barbell (Bare Steel Equipment)

Introduction

At the core of every home gym is a good barbell, or two, or seven depending on how big your problem is. Today we are reviewing the Bare Steel Equipment: Iron Skull Power Bar and Blue Collar Barbells, which are a couple of their barbell offerings that I have been using extensively as my go-to training barbells for the last 5 months. I have been a longtime supporter of Bare Steel Equipment and owner of a few of their other products for almost 4 years, and I haven’t seen too much recent content around their barbells, so I wanted to highlight each of these, go over their different intended purposes, and help you figure out which one, or both, would be a good staple in your gym, to fit your barbell preferences. So let’s check it out.

Hey guys this is Michael with The Jungle Gym Reviews, today we are reviewing the Bare Steel Equipment, Blue Collar Barbell a 28.5mm diameter bar geared towards general use, including powerlifting, Crossfit, and general everyday lifts. We also have the Iron Skull power bar which is a 29mm bar with a Black Chromium shaft and aggressive knurling geared definitely more geared towards powerlifting or for those who like a traditional power bar, and a stiffer bar feel. We are going to compare these side by side and go over the features, specs, pricing, and talk about my experience using them.

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Brand

So for those who aren’t familiar with Bare Steel Equipment, they actually were one of, if not the first company to offer weight stack adder pins that you have probably seen popping up all over the place. I am talking about the pin you insert into a typical weight stack that has a rod on one side and an Olympic sleeve on the other. Bare Steel makes their in USA, has super strong magnetics built in so it stays securely inserted into the weight stack, and they make different size rods and different length of the Olympic sleeves depending on your needs and the machine and the machine you want to use it on. These are a great way to add more weight to any machine, and the 3 weight pins from I have owned do date are extremely high quality, and just work really well especially with the embedded magnets to stay in place and function as intended. In the last few years they starting venturing into other gym products and now manufacture everything from barbell chains, cable handles, safety squat bar handles, and now even barbells. Based on the the premium quality of their other products of course I wanted to see about their barbell options stacked up.

Iron Skull Power Bar

So now the first bar we have here is the Iron Skull Power Bar, this is a 29mm barbell and it’s a power bar meaning it has the center knurling which is used during squats to keep the bar firmly in place on your back. I have always really enjoyed using power bars for squatting but some people find it rips up their neck/back skin too much when contacting their skin like when you are wearing tank tops. Funny story, my dermatologist annually expressed concern a few years back after seeing the thicker and darker marks that power bars had left from me from years of high bar squatting. This Iron Skull Power bar is rated for 1500 pounds and is also considered a stiff bar at 200,000PSI tensile strength, which to a lay person like me, simply means when the bar is loaded shaft of the bar has less bend or flex under heavier loads which again is more suited to this stable, direct force transfer powerlifting style. In real life, I am not lifting enough weight to notice a major difference between a multi-purpose bar and a powerlifting bar, even though you can feel it slightly side by side, I do want to mention this for those who are benching, squatting, and deadlifting hundreds and hundreds of pounds. One of the things I personally really like about this bar is the Black Chromium Shaft and I am not 100% sure what type of technology is used for the coating and how it’s applied but it basically fells like an all-natural metal rather than a painted or coated surface. I really like this then because you don’t have to worry about the paint chipping or fading over time. The other main selling point of this bar and why thing I really was looking forward to it based on the photos and the description, was that sweet volcano knurling. Again, owning other Bare Steel products in the past like their Safety Squat bar handles, I know they do a fantastic job with their aggressive knurling and just overall grip and hand feel. They classify this bar as having aggressive knurling and again although I am not a barbell expert, I can say it is for sure aggressive, but not over the top. Again has Volcano knurling which is pretty standard for a lot of barbell and it feels slightly deeper or more peaky that my favorite bare steel Rogue Ohio power bar I owned but not quite as aggressive as the Bells of Steel Barenaked Powerlifting bar, for which I have a review coming for in a couple months. My ohio power bar in the bare steel finish I would rate at about a 5/10 this bar is about a 6.5/10 and I would say the Bells of Steel bar is an 8/10 to give you an idea on the overall aggressiveness between those frames of reference. Some of the other few specs to note is the overall bar length at 86.75 inches and it weighs the same as a traditional power bar at 45LBS. The bar sleeves are made of hard chrome, so they will be very durable and wont scratch easily or really at all, no matter if you use metal plates, use this bar as a landmine bar, or similar. The sleeves also have built in bushings and 15.5 inches of loadable length. The total price of this bar is $339.95 with free shipping and the bar itself is imported unlike some of their other options, including the made in USA Blue Collar Barbell which we will talk about shortly.

Things I use it for

What I like about this bar and what I use it for are definitely the traditional powerlifts. Especially squatting with the center knurl and deadlifting again for grip and the aggressiveness of the knurling, I don’t have to use chalk or straps with these except for the heaviest of single rep maxes which I really don’t do anymore frequently anyways. Also because the bar is stiff it feels very natural and solid as a multi-use bar for traditional lifters or any bodybuilding type movements where you aren’t movement the bar super fast or dynamically. However, honestly despite years of lifting and having built up plenty of callouses on my hands sometimes this bar feel slightly too aggressive for my liking, especially on colder morning or when I am lifting first thing in the morning. For accessory lifts, things like overhead pressing, curls, etc. I prefer to use a less aggressive barbell for those otherwise because using this bar all workout definitely makes my callouses bit sore, but that’s not Bare Steel’s fault, that’s just my personal preference. Otherwise the quality of the bar is great, again I really appreciate the durable Black Chromium coating which I don’t have to worry about scratching or chipping and or rusting being stored in my garage during high humidity climate. Overall it’s just going to continue being a very durable multi-use bar that will hold up well over time and handle everything you throw at it.

Blue Collar Barbell

Now the Blue Collar Barbell is a 28.5 mm diameter barbell which follows very similarly specs to the OG, the Rogue Ohio Bar which is probably one of the most widely know multi-use barbell designed to work well for all things including powerlifting, Olympic lifting, and general everyday use and so clearly the same goes here for the Blue Collar bar. It weighs 20KG, again aligned with the Rogue Ohio bar, and the same 190,000Psi tensile strength, so it has slightly more whip or flex than the 200,000PSI Iron Skull Power bar which makes this Blue Collar bar be more friendly and natural during dynamic movements like Olympic Weightlifting and Crossfit , but I don’t personally do those. Both this bar and the Iron Skull Power bar also have bushings in the sleeves, but this one clearly doesn’t have a center knurl, and is actually made in the USA, and coating with Cerakote finish of your choosing. You can choose can do red, blue, and black for the shaft color and the sleeves you can choose between chrome and black and of course I had to do the blackout, black on black and the bar itself cost $349.95. One thing I do want to mention is that just know if you choose the coated sleeves over the chrome, they will probably wear a little more quickly, especially if your plates don’t have a smooth metal insert because the weight and surface of the plates holes are literally rubbing on this coating every time you take the plates on and off. The listing for this bar says the knurling is moderately aggressive but I would classify it as less than that because it is coated, so the cerakote makes the knurling feel more shallow and more passive that it otherwise would from a raw or bare steel bar. Compared to the bars I mentioned earlier, this one is closer to a 3/10 on my knurling scale so I would say it is considered more light to moderate.

Things I Use It For

Right now I use this Blue Collar bar primarily for accessory movements, the ones I don’t like using the Iron Skull Power bar for, especially things like barbell rowing where I prefer both a little more passive knurling and just narrower bar that allows be to have better grip because I can wrap more of my hands around it. I also use this for all sorts of things from curls to upright rows and sometimes even squat and deadlift and have no issues with any movements with this bar whatsoever. Again I don’t think I am lifting heavy enough for the tensile strength of the bar to be super noticeable and I definitely am not doing and fast or whipping dynamic movements. If I had to ballpark estimate I would guess maybe 80% of people in a home gym might be in a similar boat to me where you just need a bar for general all around work, so this Blue Collar, a working mans barbell, is good bar, it gets done what you need, it’s made in USA with a lifetime warranty and you get some color customization.

Overall

So overall, while both of these bars have slight differences, both of these bars are good bars and either would be a capable upgrade to have in your gym as an everyday and all around purpose bar. The bearings on either bar don’t rotate a ton compared to needle bearings but they aren’t supposed to. If you like aggressive knurling with a stiff bar and a center knurl for squatting, go with the Iron Skull Power Bar. If you prefer something a little narrower at 28.5 mm that has a little more give and less aggressive knurling, not to mention made in USA the Blue Collar Barbell is going to be your friend. If I had to pick just one for my gym for the price I think the Iron Skull Power bar has better quality, especially when you see the fit and finish in person, and I think longer term will have better durability both the Black Chromium coating and the hard chrome sleeves, plus I have always liked the feel of 29mm bars in general.

Signoff and Q&A

So guys that’s it for this review of these two Bare Steel Equipment barbells. As always, if you have any questions, please comment down below and I will be happy to answer or at least try. Thank you for tuning into The Jungle Gym Reviews, we will see you next time, take it easy, peace.