Bullish about rebar

Ive always been fascinated by scrap metal art - during our vacation travels, whenever I come across a reclaimed scrap art store, I enjoy wandering through the aisles looking at each of the pieces on display.

Scrap metal dog

If you are wondering what I am going on about, check out the image alongside this text. What amazes me is the creativity of the craftsman who has converted junk into something of value.

Having leftover material at the end of a project is inevitable - post construction, we had a heap of rusted rebar (reinforced steel) waiting to be disposed off. Such steel is usually sold at about twenty five percent of the price at which one would have procured it in the first place.

The silver lining of course was the creative potential of this scrap - instead of feeling unhappy, I was instantly bullish about rebar ! A couple of years ago, I had used a line drawing of a bull I had found on the Internet as a basis for a photoshop project. I decided I would use this as a starting point.

Scale line drawing on a vinyl sheet

Here's the image printed on a vinyl sheet to ensure a 7 feet tall bull ! Now it would be up to the bar bender ! One of the typical roles in a construction project is that of a 'bar bender' - this individual literally bends steel bars in order to create the rebar 'skeleton' that goes into concrete structures.

I was amazed at how quickly each segment of the line drawing was bent manually and then neatly welded to create a single rebar bent just the way I wanted !

Nandi Installation on East Deck

Here's what the final product looked like. While I originally planned to install it on an exterior concrete wall surrounding the site - I realised it would look better on the East deck facing Nandi Hills - this is what it looks like when placed at about a six inch separation from the surface. As the sun moves through the day, the shadow of the bull will move as well.

...Making it simple

...Field of dreams