The wood privacy fence around this corner of our yard blew down in Hurricane Ike. Most fences around town were blown down. Older wood posts broke off at ground level; newer posts came out of the ground - even the concrete they were set with came out in came out of the muddy ground. One fence was supported by metal posts and they just bent over at ground level.
I wanted some sort of post system that was strong and wouldn't rot at the ground are at least could easily be replaced if rotten or broken - something like a concrete base anchoring a metal bracket of some sort. Then I remembered that I've wanted to build a concrete obelisk to mark my property so this seemed like the ideal time to try to make a concrete post. The result is shown in the photo. It took 3 1/2 60-lb bags of concrete mix, three lengths of 3/8" 'rebar' and four threaded anchors.
My experience with concrete has mostly been limited to setting fence posts and pouring excess mix into metal oil pans to make "stepping stones." I've done a couple of pours into wood forms. If I had thought about it, I would have remembered that it was difficult to dump the concrete from the pans and remove the wood forms from the poured areas. However, I overlooked that and assumed that this post would plop right out of the form as soon as the concrete was dry and I could immediately cast the second post in the same form. But that was not to be. I had to completely disassemble the form and it was still difficult. There are several rough spots on the surfaces that were against the form and the "S" that I had carefully cut from 3/8 plywood to create a recessed "S" in the concrete stayed stuck to in the recess and won't come out.
I'm rebuilding the form and I'll spray the surfaces with a waxy coating this time and hope for better results.
