Crowbar

The Crowbar is a melee weapon that players start off with, being in the player's inventory right from the get go along with the K1911.

Overview
A crowbar, also called a wrecking bar, pry bar or prybar, pinch-bar, or occasionally a prise bar or prisebar, colloquially, in Britain and Australia sometimes called a jemmy and jimmy (also called jemmy bar), gooseneck, or pig foot, is a tool consisting of a metal bar with a single curved end and flattened points, often with a small fissure on one or both ends for removing nails or to force apart two objects. Crowbars are commonly used to open nailed wooden crates or pry apart boards.

The design can be used as any of the three lever classes. The curved end is usually used as a first-class lever, and the flat end as a second-class lever.

As improvised weapons, Crowbars are fairly easy to obtain, heavy enough to be used as clubs without being too heavy to carry, reliably sturdy and have two-bladed points that can do damage either by swinging or thrusting with either end of the crowbar, given with sufficient force used can easily cause grievous injuries.

In-game
The Crowbar, along with the K1911 are the two weapons players can start off with, being used in last ditch situations where players have ran dry of ammo and they are far from an area where ammo can be found, in terms of damage it is fairly good, being able to kill instantly with a single swing to the head, even a swing to the body can deal some hefty damage along with the ability to deal considerable knock-back, being able to give a player some breathing space if being swarmed.

However against high health enemies and bosses, the Crowbar is often overshined by the likes of the Katana and the Sledgehammer due to their overall better damage per swing,

Trivia

 * Crowbars as a melee weapon are often popularized due to the Half-Life series as Gordon Freeman's signature weapon.