Drive and pull steaks/rebar?

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 7:55 am

Last year I watched a guy drive rebar with a home made slide hammer. Planing on making one this year. A pipe the same inside size as the rebar, a drive rod the size as the rebar. Thread the head of a three lb. hammer on the top. Any one know what I can use to harden the end of the driving rod? Would two nut married be hard enough?

.
For pulling rebar I'm making a simple pump lever action with a chain link to grab the bar. Last year I useded a vice grip and pinch bar. It worked well. My son went around helping other pull there stakes. The lever would be nice for helping others.

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 7:58 am

Stakes

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 8:27 am

I bend my rebar ends over and then smack 'em with a hammer to make the loop smaller...Makes them easier to pound in. (Safer, too.) Using a scrap of 2x4 between hammer and "candycane" helps prevent wiggling while pounding. To remove, stick hammer handle through loop and twist. My structure's too heavy to blow away, but I still bang in three evenly-spaced "staples" to de-jinx the possibility of a playa twister.

safetythird · Post by **safetythird** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 8:39 am

T Post pullers work great on rebar too. Probably overkill for most small stakes but we used 2 of them and 2 burly men to remove a seriously over engineered anchor stake. For some reason both of them had the fulcrum real close to the ground, very handy for rebar stakes. They also make drivers that might be worth a look, if only for inspiration.

Just One of the Online Stores

S3

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 8:58 am

safetythird wrote:T Post pullers work great on rebar too. Probably overkill for most small stakes but we used 2 of them and 2 burly men to remove a seriously over engineered anchor stake. For some reason both of them had the fulcrum real close to the ground, very handy for rebar stakes. They also make drivers that might be worth a look, if only for inspiration.

Just One of the Online Stores

S3

~
I've had a post driver like that for years. Home made and twice as heavy. Our first year at BM we drove T post to hold a hammock. Ended up asking the DPW to pull em w/a tractor. I'm getting old and looking for simpler ways. A post puller looks good. HF have then for cheap.

kevinwells · Post by **kevinwells** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 3:47 pm

Buy a fence post puller! I live in the bay area and bought mine last year for about 70 bucks at Jacksons hardware in San Rafael. Best money I spent last year, by far. Rips any post or rebar from they playa in a jiffy.
Once people found out about my puller and it's magical properitest, boy was I popular. Never have I had an object other people coveted so openly.
Had to finally resort to taking hostage items to ensure the safe return of said puller.
Best was when someone left his girlfriend. Was sorta hoping he would not come back, she was cute....

For putting them in, I had a Hitachi Demo hammer with a driver bit on it. Total overkill for most people, but last year I had ALOT of rebar to plant. This year, a simple sledge will suit my needs....

Oh and skip the candy cane suggestion for rebar. That was a tip created by someone with too much time on their hands. Total pain in the ass to make and even worse to hammer in. Just get lots of old tennis balls and put them over the top.

phil · Post by **phil** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 6:47 pm

I use a framer's hammer to drive in rebar -- it's got a very long handle, and the hammer's head is slightly bigger than a regular hammer. Hold it comfortably in two hands and let the leverage do the driving; much ligher than a sledge. If you miss, you can stop it with much less effort and damage than a 3lb or 5lb sledge. Then we pull the rebar out with the vicegrips twist. Not much effort there, either.

Candy cane rebar is very difficult for most people to drive. You hit the top of the curve, which is not over the rebar you're driving, lots of flex, not much drive. We put solar lights over our rebar. The lights have a hollow plastic tube with a plastic pointy thing in the bottom. Pull the point out, drive the rebar in till the plastic tube sits on the ground, and put the light on top.

You can also put a length of PVC on the rebar and either put a banner on it or not. The PVC is tall enough (6', 8', whatever) so that it's not really the tripping hazard that rebar with a tennis ball on it is.

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 10:18 am

phil wrote:Candy cane rebar is very difficult for most people to drive. You hit the top of the curve, which is not over the rebar you're driving, lots of flex, not much drive. .

Agreed. I've found that the combination of a scrap of 2x4" and the SIDE of a three-pound hammer does the trick pretty well, though. But I wouldn't want to drive a lot of 'em.

On my To Try List (#2867) is busting out the acetylene torch and experimenting with either welding a steel cap onto rebar or beading up the end to make a better striking surface....I made one prototype stake that loops completely around and back to straight, giving not only a loop for a rope but also a handy hole to stick the pipe in for loosening...Better, but I need to tack the loop to itself to make it less springy when struck.

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 10:25 am

robotland wrote:
phil wrote:Candy cane rebar is very difficult for most people to drive. You hit the top of the curve, which is not over the rebar you're driving, lots of flex, not much drive. .
Agreed. I've found that the combination of a scrap of 2x4" and the SIDE of a three-pound hammer does the trick pretty well, though. But I wouldn't want to drive a lot of 'em.

On my To Try List (#2867) is busting out the acetylene torch and experimenting with either welding a steel cap onto rebar or beading up the end to make a better striking surface....I made one prototype stake that loops completely around and back to straight, giving not only a loop for a rope but also a handy hole to stick the pipe in for loosening...Better, but I need to tack the loop to itself to make it less springy when struck.

~
As stated in other threads." I no bend so good no more". So am going with the driveing rod inside a pipe. To harden the rod is the question. If it mushroons out it wont work. Will a welded bead work on the end?

phil · Post by **phil** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 11:22 am

To harden the rod is the question. If it mushroons out it wont work.

I can't tell you from personal experience. I've read several people's descriptions of using those drivers to pound the rebar in, and not one person mentioned having hardened the rebar. I've got rebar that I've hammered in over the course of our 9 trips to BM (using a framer's hammer), and they have _some_ spreading at the top, but not much.

If no one here knows, the only way to find out is to try driving one before you go and see what damage is done. Rebar is pretty hard.

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 11:27 am

I'm sure that the time-honored blacksmith's heat-and-quench would work on rebar.... But it'll last for a few burns before it really 'shrooms, and is cheap to replace, so I'd just chuck it when it goes bad.

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 11:28 am

So here is my design. A lenght of threaded stock, conduit, 7 nut w/ washers and a 3lb hammerhead.
.
Conduit large enough to recieve the nuts(sloppy). Thread nuts & washer on top of rod far eough to hold the hammer head. Two nut married to keep it from losning. Wooden hand form a out doors cooker(2more nuts) Then two nuts married for a guide in the middle of the conduit. Two nuts married on the end for a harden surface. Also replaceable. 5-6 bucks.

phil · Post by **phil** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 12:45 pm

... so I'd just chuck it when it goes bad.

I think that's the best advice. I've tossed more bent rebar than I can remember. Just chuck that sucker.

bellboy · Post by **bellboy** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 9:53 pm

puttng the floor jack on some plywood and clamping the rebar with the vice grips so they meet the working end of the floor jack. last year i blew out the seals on the floor jack trying to take out a 5 foot piece 2 1/2 feet deep on our trampoline; but i'd been using it for 5 or 6 years and it was really cheap from post tools or harbor freight. we ended up using the motorhome and some cable. SAFETY THIRD

Drive and pull steaks/rebar?

Drive and pull steaks/rebar?

vice grips and a floor jack