I did not come up with this idea,,, in fact I learned it from here,,, I don’t know who the original person was,,, but they deserve all the credit.
If you find yourself needing rebar stakes and don’t have a welder,,, this will definitely help you out.
I use 3/8 rebar, because it is cheaper,, and easier to cut with bolt cutters
Cut your rebar to the desired length… I like 24 inches,,, then take a half inch nut,, put it on the end,,, and with a 4 pound hammer,,, pound the nut onto the stake.
No welding is required,,,, and they hold,,, I know there are skeptics who won’t believe it,,, but that nut won’t budge,,, I actually used these types of stakes for coyotes,and held not just a few coyotes either we are talking LOTS of coyotes ,, of course I cross staked .
The only reason I don’t use rebar now for coyotes is that I’m a huge fan of pogos and they are not nearly as heavy as packing in rebar.
I still prefer rebar in smaller creeks to use drowning sets for mink, coon muskrat and the occasional otter and beaver. I like sand bags for the rivers.
Again,, these stakes flat out hold…. I never lost a coyote while using them

Hi foxkidd,

I posted a similar question regarding this idea a few weeks ago. I use wolf fangs for coyotes, but prefer 3/8" rebar stakes for coons. I asked about doing this after measuring point to point across 1/2" nuts and wanted something a little larger. I use the standard 9 gage S hooks sold through F&T and others for the stake swivel on 3/8" stakes.

I see in the picture that it appears you have also flattened the nut by hitting on the side after ponding in down from the top. Is that correct? Ever had any of the nuts crack or break?

I experimented the other day by using a hand grinder and removing the rib on each side of the rebar first. I then drilled a 11/32" hole in a washer before tapping into place before pounding on the 1/2" nut. Just looking for a larger smooth surface under the nut for the S hook rotation.

Most interference fits in machining only require .002-.003" to hold and never come apart. Looks to me that the threads on a 1/2" nut going over 3/8" rebar we are getting at least .030-.050". You are correct, they are not going to come off.

Best and easiest setup would be to have a "buddy" with a small lathe turn the end of the rebar to about .015-.020" larger that the inside thread diameter of the nut. Still would require pounding into place but not as much effort. Told hold the threads only need to be deformed some on the way over the rebar. Here's a link to a hex nut chart.
https://www.engineersedge.com/hex_nut.htm

They have them for metric also. Long before I retired I used to go through calculations to figure out thread depth for specific nuts, but in general it's about .020-.040" for average use nuts. Bigger they are in size the deeper the thread depth.

Thanks for the post. Ed

Yupper, just take a 4 pound hammer and mash the nut flat,,, my anvil is a small section of railroad rail( about 5 inches long)that a friend of mine who works on the railroad gave me. And I’ve never had a single nut crack.
The way I got around the swivel issue was that I ALWAYS cross staked on land sets using the double swivel stake setup. Never lost a single coyote because of something coming loose. Loose nut, swivels.. etc. i obviously had some pullouts but that’s gonna happen no matter what set up you use.

I do the same thing. But I put the nuts in a fire to take the hardness out of them. I just throw them in a fire with a wire put through them and leave them, and grab them the next day after the fire is out and they've cooled down.

I just weld a nut on.

I weld mine too. Seems lots of folks say the hammering them on works if you don't have access to a welder.

hammering them on is what I did , didn't have a welder

I found leave the re-bar out of the nut about 1/4-3/8 proud on the top side of the nut like Loosegoose has in his picture , that way you are beating on the bar not the nut when you drive them

in not very long they peen over making it even more impossible for that nut to leave

That's how I made my stakes.
Never seen one fail.

They hold fine for me but I started going away from the hammer and nut shape deforming about 15 years ago. Got a welder and began to fasten nuts with it. Some trial and lots of error here. Did that mainly because folks that know me, know the big L stamped on my forehead stands for LAZY. Since then I have standardized all my metal stakes with 11/16 smooth rod and welded nuts. Did the same for my 3/8 rebar stakes with the welded bead always on the underside of the nut for both. I still have my original shoulders and muscles and can reach the top shelf in the "shed" with no pain or no surgery and don't use any vise grips to remove frozen stakes. For years I twisted too many stake tops with them in our frozen Nebraska soil when pulling and moving that I upgraded to the electric world. I now use a 1/2" battery impact with a deep well socket. Since all the nuts are the same its an easy (LAZY) chore for me to loosen and remove any stake, plus all i have to do is expose the nut, not dig down to get a horizontal hold with the grips. But I used the hammered nut for 20 years w/o any loosening problems prior to the 20v revolution we all experienced. My LAZY way. ...............the mike

That nut will twist right off of there in frozen ground when you go to pull, even , or especially if you give it a tap to loosen or unfreeze, and grab it with a vice grips.

Double (cross) staked rebar. Nuts pounded on and flattened, no weld. I don’t own a welder and did mine like this for many years.
These days I don’t carry as much rebar. I use a lot of cable stakes to save weight since I walk a lot of my line in off the road a ways. Getting older and not as much fun to hump in a bucket of rebar (two for each coyote trap) and traps, dirt, bait, urine, hammer, digger, etc,
Rebar is very easy to retrieve though from January rock solid frozen ground. Couple turns on that nut with a big vise grip and then a small flat crow bar to pop it up and out. Definitely one benefit of rebar I found on my late season line. Cable is virtually impossible to retrieve from rock solid frozen ground here. Especially unplowed ground like hay fields and similar.

Jim

Jim

worst stuck stake I had I could not get loose
I had pounded them in frozen ground but the others had all come out hit down , pull up

I flagged it and waited for the thaw , the thaw came and still could not budge it , eventually brought the tractor and put a chain around it

I had driven this 3/8 rebar through a tree root in frozen ground

the nut did not come off even with all that pulling

if you are ok with smooth stakes

the bolts that hold wire spools together work also and have a head on them with a formed washer on the head so if you see a bunch of wire spools headed for the dumpster liberate the bolts and they will take up a lot less space in the dumpster broke down

I used 1/2” rebar and threaded the end, put on the nut and peened the top of the rebar over.

Use some 1/2" rebar here. Just pound on a 5/8" nut and hit the side of the nut 5 or 4 times with a 4 lb hammer. Never had em come loose. I do poke the rebar through about 1/2" before smash the nut on the side.