DIY Wire Dobies for Embedding Rebar in Concrete

While the rain has kept us from doing any excavations, we have kept busy doing a little prep work. We cut some posts and cross beams for the batter boards. Those will be going up as soon as the ground dries a little more. We've also been creating some wire dobies for when we lay the rebar for the footings.

For this project we needed:
Quickcrete
16g galvanized wire
Modeling clay
Disposable cups (get cups that will lift the rebar to the appropriate height ie. if you need the rebar three inches off the ground, get cups that are three inches tall)
A scrap wooden board
Wire cutters
An x-acto knife

All total, these materials cost me about $14. There are 50 cups in the package so this will make 50 dobies. For comparison, the big box stores sell a pack of 100 plastic rebar chairs for $60. Add one more package of cups, and you can have 100 dobies for a quarter of the cost of the rebar chairs. Not too shabby.

We experimented with a couple ways of doing this. For the first method, we started by cutting a hole in the top of the cups.

Place the cups upside down on the wooden board and sealed the bottoms with modeling clay.

The wire is bent into a long narrow "U" shape.

Mix a small batch of concrete in the wheelbarrow. I placed the board across the wheel barrow to make filling them easier.

Fill them from the top. Gently tap the board to tamp the cement down and release any large air bubbles. It's not necessary to get all the air out, just any big pockets. They just have to be strong enough to hold your rebar in place; they don't have to be pretty. You want them to be completely full and level with the top. Press the wires into the cement, making sure they are centered.

They're like little volcanoes, except they're not

This is what happens if you tamp it too hard. The seal can and will break and concrete will go everywhere. Don't do it. It's messy and not the good kind of messy.

After the concrete has cured just peel off the cup and you have a dobie. Congratulations.

This method worked well, but we have a lot of dobies to make. After several batches the clay began to get cement in it and it became hard to work with. So we got lazy, er, creative. Yeah, that's it.

We just stuck the wire through the bottom of the cup and poured the cement in. So long as you keep the holes small and the cement thick, it works very well. You also need something to set the cups on that will allow the wires to hang down. A mesh grate or a wooden pallet may work for you. We used the side tray on my husband's gas grill. He may or may not approve of this use.

Bwa ha ha, he doesn't have a choice

There you have it. Dobies.

Finally, if you really love your dobies and they have served you well, you can present them with an item of clothing.

#justharrypotterthings