You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
A basic angle grinder? Or basic circular saw? What would I need? Think I have a concrete cutting blade for the angle grinder, not sure how it would react when in contact with the steel reinforcement. Saying that, the blade may not be deep enough to reach the reinforcement. Guess I could chisel* away the remaining concrete to reach the reinforcement then cut that with a metal cutting disc. Think the circular saw might be a bad idea for this?
* aka smash with a club hammer.
I know many people who use diamond discs for cutting metal so I suspect you will be OK. Circular saw would probably not be a good idea. A 9" grinder should make light work of it
My FIL swears by the all-purpose diamond discs - cuts through asphalt like a concrete saw and anything else you like.
"multi material" is one of the buzzwords for this, it ought to help you find something that's designed for the job, though a diamond disc will usually do OK too.
But check thicknesses etc first, a normal small grinder won't go through most fenceposts, just too thick, your effective max cut really isn't very deep because of teh bulk of the grinder.
It depends on what end result you’re after. If you just want to remove it at roughly ground level then take a sledge hammer to it. The concrete will break away leaving the 4 lengths of rebar that run through the post. Then a small angle grinder with a cutting disc on is all you need (or a hacksaw if you persist enough)
9" mains powered angle grinder with a diamond blade is the perfect tool for the job. You can get specific blades for reinforced concrete. Chopped loads of posts a couple of months ago making a retaining structure and the correct blade made light work - didn't even look blunted when we had finished.
It's ”recycling” them other uses, so don't want to destroy the post, but doesn't need to be perfect either. It's only a small grinder I have so probably will involve some bashing too!
Thanks for the suggestions 👍
Personally I'd sack off the idea of reuse. I'm a big one for repurposing, but if you cut you'll end up with the 4 bits of rebar exposed. Not a problem if you're fixing it in concrete at the bottom, but if not encased then I'd be concerned about the rebar corroding and blowing the concrete.
To shorten- Cut as deep as you can all round. Hit it with an 'ammer the rebar should be cut thtough by that point. Rebar does heehaw close the centre.
To divide if the rebar isn't cut- cut as derp as you can all round, do the same 50mm along. Hit the small section with more cuts and hack as much as you can out with a chisel. Cut the rebar with a hacksaw. Tidy up.