For a client's wall

[Art-Deco]

I had a previous client ask if I can do this design in concrete for him, I hadn't cast these in concrete before so I wasn't sure they would work but I agreed to try it.
Since they are installing on a stone wall he is building on his house they needed an anchoring as there's nothing to embed them. I decided to incorporate 1/2" stainless steel rods since they will be outdoors and rust attacks steel over time.
I drilled and inserted a couple of 1/4" brass bolts on both ends as a mechanical lock to keep the sculptures from twisting, the rods will embed between the stones in the mortar as they build the wall.

The one shown was just taken out of the mold and is wet, it gets wrapped in plastic for a few days before the set of four get acid stained.

[mantrid]

threads are designed to unscrew. I suspect it will become loose over time due to movement between the smooth rod and mortar.
If its embedded in mortar then rebar would have been a better choice, its good enough for bridges and foundations etc. Surface rust apparently is good as it creates a better bond and once set in the mortar the lack of oxygen stops further corrosion. Ive read this quite often on building forums.
A 'U' bend in the rod would also work. Just like a wall tie

[tonofelephant]

Art-Deco - Install method looks fine with threaded rod. If ever comes loose, tighten again & add Lock-Tite. Lock-Tite was used on all the Apollo missions.

Have a great day.

[raspero]

I keep reading art deco's post and can find no mention of threaded rod. Am I missing something?

Richard

[tonofelephant]

Hi Richard, Deco's picture shows a rod that is threaded on the last inch or so. Maybe the better thing to say was partially threaded rod.

Carl

[raspero]

To me that looks like the 1/4 inch brass rod that he put in each end of the stainless rod at a 90 degree angle. It makes a Tee at each end.

Richard

[Robson Valley]

There will be galvanic corrosion with the dissimilar metals of the mount. Like every vehicle that any of us has ever owned. Fiberglas Corvettes are a litle better in that regard.

[Art-Deco]

Originally Posted by mantrid

threads are designed to unscrew. I suspect it will become loose over time due to movement between the smooth rod and mortar.

The threaded bolt is in there quite permanently, it's inserted through a hole drilled in the 1/2" stainless rod and I used a sledge hammer on the anvil at work with a couple of good solid whacks on the area to "merge" them together mechanically.

The threaded bolt set in the rod crosswise is mainly just for installation, once the sculpture is set in place in the stone wall, and has half a ton of stone on top it's not going anywhere.

[Art-Deco]

Originally Posted by raspero

To me that looks like the 1/4 inch brass rod that he put in each end of the stainless rod at a 90 degree angle. It makes a Tee at each end.

Richard

Here's a better photo:



Embedded inside the sculpture is another one but to make sure the bolt didn't contact the inside of the mold by accident I made it shorter and bent it over, it's just to act as a mechanical "lock" so nothing can twist or be twisted. It also sets the sculpture in only one way- the "tee" prevents the masons from putting the sculptures in rotated the wrong way or too far left or right since the Tee will have to lay flat between stones in the mortar. The rod is about 7-8" long roughly.

The dents are where I whacked it with the sledge on an anvil to mechanically lock them together, no nuts or weld needed.

Steel rebar I know has been a problem with including it in terracotta units, typically they put a piece of rebar in something like a terracotta balustrade, leaving a couple of inches of rebar projecting out the top and bottom of the balustrade so they mechanically locked into the top and bottom sections, but what they learned pretty quick was the terracotta and brick walls absord water and moisture and the steel inside rusts, if the rebar was put in with mortar by filling the inside of the hollow balustrade etc with it to keep the rebar in place, the rusting would expand and actually crack the terracotta itself. I've seen a few balustrades that were split vertically in half from exactly that.

Some used a bronze rod instead.

[mantrid]

Ha I see its at 90o. I thought it was straight looking at the initial picture

[Art-Deco]

Originally Posted by mantrid

Ha I see its at 90o. I thought it was straight looking at the initial picture

It DID look straight like you said in the first picture, it's actually slightly angled in that picture but difficult to tell, I hadn't noticed or thought it would be visually misinterpreted due to the angle of the photo.
That's why I posted the updated one to clear that up since others also thought the same.

The acid stain came out nice, not as red/orange as it usually does, tending towards a little brown which is what the client wanted in the first place. He asked for something like "brownstone" and I sent a photo of apiece with this stain but it was more rusty red orange and I remarked I could tone the orange down with sealer or an additional application of another stain, but in the end it wound up the color he described without further work on my part.




Shipping two tomorrow.

[Art-Deco]

Here's one with the acid stain on it, can't quite get the color exact in the photo I guess because the tinted Low-E coated skylight in my studio shifts the color from the sun in a way that fools the camera at certain times of the day depending on where the sun is and how much direct light is coming thru the skylight, but it's pretty close.