Used rebar - what should I do with it?

[honeyfritter]

What can I do with used rebar?

Does anyone know if it is recyclable or if a business/contractor could put bent and rusted rebar to use?

My being resists the dumpster. Any ideas?

[Thecatman]

Howbout saving it for next year.

If not, try selling it to a scrap metal recycler. You won't get much. A few cents per pound.

Or giving it to a concrete contractor or a contractor that does cinder block walls.

[BBadger]

Why don't you use it again next time you go? Either that or Craigslist it or something so someone else can use it.

[Martiansky]

I used the same rebar I had from '05 this year. They were rusty on the outside but still sturdy. I just gave them a new coat of spray paint and they were just fine.
Oh, and also I bought some "new" rebar from the local hardware store so I could make more candycaned stakes and most of them already had a light rust coating on them.

[illy dilly]

Use it as practice chop sticks. That way you'll be a sushi eating master with wood chop sticks!!!!!

[forty_eight]

there might be a gear gifting exchange between local burners

sign up for your regional email list etc

let them go home, lol

[danibel]

My first year I was gifted some candy caned rebar. It was rusty but every said they were great to use so I took them. When I got to my camp and started to set up my North Pole, my veteran campmates shook their head at my way over curved stakes. They pulled out replacements that were straight and just started pounding away. When I got home I looked up "recycle rebar" on my garbage collectors website, and yes they take it. I dropped them all in the recycle bin and bought some new straight ones that I am still using to this day. They are rusty, but not bent.

[unjonharley]

I had a bunch of rebar (bent to) staples from past burns.. Needed 12 for my camp.. Sure enough other campers needed the rest..Also gave 12 Nails/stakes and extra rope..Along with other camping odds and end no longer needed by me..

[AntiM]

If you aren't going to reuse or gift them, check and see if there is a metal recycler in your area. You'll get a few cents for them. Round up anything metal you don't want, make a few bucks.

[skibear]

One year I took the metal to a scrap dealer in Reno near 4th st.
Another year Savemart on Keystone took it as recycle stuff.

[mamasharon]

If you're talking about regular rebar, make it into Burning Man stakes. Don't know why you wouldn't want to save them for next year. Also wonder why folks knock the candy canes. They prevent injury and you can pull one out with the crook of the other.

[trilobyte]

Giving this a nudge over to the LNT board, since that's a better fit for recycling/repurposing.

Some great suggestions already. If you're planning on returning, keep it and reuse for another year. Keep an eye out for a cheap canvas duffle bag as a place to store them, it'll keep the stakes in one place and reduce the chances of scraping against rusty rebar in a garage, shed, or basement. If you're not planning on returning, you may want to offer them to other burners or a camp in your local area. I'll also second either a scrap yard if neither of those solutions works out. they're pretty efficient at metal recycling.

[skibear]

If you're talking about regular rebar, make it into Burning Man stakes. Don't know why you wouldn't want to save them for next year. Also wonder why folks knock the candy canes. They prevent injury and you can pull one out with the crook of the other.

They're heavy & bulky. Not practical to take on an airplane!


Not a problem in future if we move to Nevada City Ca.

[FossaFerox]

The problem most people have with candy canes, from what I can tell, is they don't bend them tight enough and/or don't bend the two pieces parallel. This makes them not work well.

A vet in our group was against the idea of candy canes since theirs didn't work very well in the past, but having done the research and designed the shade structure I wanted to at least try it out. After a proof of concept during an unrelated project build day I won the group over. I wound up bending most of my camp's rebar as a result, mostly because I knew how perilous even minor mistakes can be when it comes time to drive the stuff.

If the short end isn't parallel to the main stake then as soon as the tip of the short end touches the ground it will start to jam as you drive it deeper. Meanwhile, even if it's parallel, if the bend is too wide then you don't get clean load transfer from your mallet through the main part of the stake meaning it won't drive straight. Nice, tight sections work wonderfully and are miraculously easy to pull with a pry bar.

We struck camp in a hurry this year because of the storm warning which meant that I had to pull the rebar by myself while our drivers slept. I pulled (cumulatively) 320' of rebar out of the ground by hand, and I don't think I could have done it if they weren't candy caned.

Admittedly we made most of our stakes too long this year (overkill for my virgin structure design) which meant that most of our rebar bent as we drove it. We used 3' lengths bent into 2.5' stakes with 6"crooks. Next year we'll be using 2' lengths bent into 18" stakes with 6" crooks. I think this will solve the bending problem. About 80% of our stock from this year got curbed on Craigslist as a result of being bent beyond reuse, but a local artist was happy to pick it up to recycle it as part of a sculpture.