Hi,
How do y'all guys make stakes? What kind a metal do you use? We made some last year out of 3/8" or smaller rebar and they bent and broke to easy in our hard, Texas, caliche ground. What we did to keep the swivel from slipping of the shape was bend one end to a U shape. Is that confusing? But when we went to hammer some of them stakes in the U broke! How should we do this?
Thanks,
AuthorTrapper.

Don't bend anything.Get 1/2" rebar,determine the length you need.Find a hex nut that will fit tightly on the end (I think,5/8").Put the cut rebar in a vice and pound the nut on till a little bit of rod sticks through,and peen that rod to keep the nut on.

Yep got some hammered nut stakes In been using each season for almost 40 years, work great. I don't have a welder.
Jim

Make them out of cable...

I’d rather use stakes for water trapping coon, mink and rats.

I weld them. T-s for water stakes and weld nuts on for land.

I have some that the nut was bigger than the rebar that I smashed sideways like making a cable stop and some that the nut is welded and some that I used an impact to thread the nuts onto the rebar; they all look similar to Taximan's. The different ways of manufacture had to do with size of nut and what else I was doing that day, for example bunch of nuts (metric I think) just too small to slip over 1/2" bar and impact was handy because I had used it for something else- some of those bars needed a slight grinding for the nuts to get started.
I have a few done with washers but the nut makes it easier to twist and pull when taking them out.

Keep in mind,the OP and brother are kids and don't have the resources that many of us take for granted.

Don't need much to smash a nut flat in the crossways direction, and that is the simplest, fastest way to get it done; slip the 5/8" (9/16"?) nut on the 1/2" bar, lay it on a sledge hammer head, anvil or flat rock; I used a ball hitch as anvil on some; and beat it with a ball peen or other hammer til it gets tight-it's done. The top will peen over with use.

With 3/8" rebar the nut that fits it is really too small, it will pull through or bind on the end swivel; and if that is all the rebar I had I think I'd get washers welded a bit below the top.

What ADC said. Ts for water and nuts for land. Thats what I do. Ts are handy in the water, but anymore, I just use cable on land, but the stakes with nuts work good on my land coon traps.

Thanks for the info, everyone!

The best stakes I have are 1/2 inch cold role steel rod with a 5/8s nut wilded on top or a peace of pipe to hold bait or lure. Don't like rebar because of the ribs if a coyote get it wiggling he can jack even double stakes out.

How long do you guys make em? My ground is heavy blacks soil, some has a little sand. Mostly going after coyotes,coons.

16+ on coon and 20-24 cross staked for coyotes

I use 18" rebar,cross staked for coyotes.I'm working mostly in hard,rocky,frozen ground but it varies.Some areas in the forest are softer.I have also used them in more sandy ground in NV.I've never had a coyote budge one but badgers can excavate them if you use short chains.


Ultimately,you have to get a feel for what works where you are.Double stakes are less critical of length.Single stakes cand be helped by using longer chains,like 30-36".

I was hoping to use single 3/8 rebar that’s 24 or longer on standard chains on mb550. Is that asking for trouble? Does a guy have to double stake? If so I suppose I’d need to by cross stake brackets to put on the chains?

Double staking is good, I believe most on my 1/2" stakes are about 21"- the key is to divide the rebar into the greatest number of pieces longer than 18".
I like 3/8 stakes to be 24" and doubled- two stakes makes me sleep better.