Definition

Noun: 1. A specific type of iron tool: A slice bar is a long, heavy iron bar with a flat, chisel-like end, used for prying, loosening, and raking out clinkers or slag from industrial furnaces, boilers, or fireboxes.

Usage

• The primary and most specific use of "slice bar" is in industrial, metallurgical, or mechanical contexts involving solid fuel combustion.
• It refers to the tool itself, not the action of using it.

Examples

• Noun:
  • The stoker used a slice bar to break up the clinker in the boiler.
  • A proper slice bar is essential maintenance equipment for a coal-fired furnace.
  • He leaned the hot slice bar against the brick wall after clearing the grate.

Advanced Usage

• The term is highly technical and is rarely used outside its specific industrial context. It is not typically used in figurative language.

Variants and Related Words

• Slag bar: A very similar tool, sometimes used interchangeably, though it may refer more specifically to handling molten slag.
• Fire iron: A broader category of tools for tending fires, which can include slice bars, pokers, and shovels.
• Poker: A simpler iron rod for stirring a fire.
• Clinker: The stony residue fused together from impurities in coal, which the slice bar is designed to remove.

Synonyms

• Furnace bar
• Raking bar
• Clinker bar

Note: These synonyms are very niche and are used almost exclusively within the same technical fields.

Related Phrases/Idioms

• There are no common idioms or phrasal verbs using "slice bar." Its usage is literal and technical.

Noun

1. iron bar used to loosen and rake clinkers out of furnaces