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rebar is included in concrete for the express purpose of HANDLING TENSION LOADS...As i said above, I'm a carpenter by trade, and I have, well, too much! experience with rebar...only, not as a basis for forging blades. Concrete has incredible compressive strength, about equal to steel (though of course both materials have variables). What concrete lacks is tensile strength. Therefore, we place rebar in beams and such so that the steel can lend its tensile strength to the compressive strength of the concrete. In fact, most of the rebar is place near the BOTTOM of beams and girders, as this is where its tensile strength ismost useful. So to say that rebar lacks tensile strength is a mistake...but other than its use in construction, i don't know what it's good for.

i'm thinking you might be a bit far away...don't know exactly where NM is,,,but i'm in BC...i think maybe there's a footlong chunk of train track around here somewhere...

that's cool, i can think outside the box...hey, thomas, get me one of those forklift tines, wi'ya? oh, and btw...in bridges, we often use fiberglass rebar, in case any water ever penetrates through the inevitable cracks in the concrete. but i hear you : it's a mixed baG, and you never know what you're gonna get...

i'm down with recycling...when i make bows, i sometimes take old hardwoods out of renos and use that... i see why i should get the anvil first...or i'll be roasting up some iron and tempted to beat it out on ... well, any thing... thanks for the advice guys

thanks for all the advice. I live in Victoria, BC, on Vancouver Island... I guess i'll leave the rebar for someone else...maybe they can reinforce some concrete with it!

Hi, I basically don't know the 1st thing about iron, steel, tool or weapon making (although I'm a pretty good bowyer)...but I am interested in a big way. I would like to learn about the basic requirements for working in steel, and if anyone would be kind enough to point me to some answers, I would be much obliged. Thanks Scott

so you're saying rebar works but only for looks? okay...shouldn't be too hard to get some spring steel or coils... i guess the first step is to make a forge, and then an anvil comes next, eh?

Hi, I'm totally green... Is it possible to use rebar for knife and sword making? I was looking at some videos on youtube, and one guy appeared to be using 15 or 20 M rebar...or perhaps he had just welded a piece onto some other stock so that he could use it for a handle... Otherwise, what are some good sources of blank steel, and what is the best type to use for knife and sword making? Thanks.