I Love Lucy wrote:
What I have are six wrought iron candle stakes that I am going to use in
the yard near the front or side sidewalk where they will be very visible
for either tealights or little potted plants. I'm afraid somebody will
steal them (neighbor got some of his garden stuff stolen a couple weeks
ago).

I've been kicking around what to do for some time now while I worked to
clean them up, prime them and paint with rustoleum. I thought at first
to anchor them in concrete in a brick? Anchor them in concrete in a
cutoff pepsi bottle as a form? Etc. Then bury or "plant" them.

Now I have decided the easiest thing would be to cut the top off a pepsi
bottle part way, leaving about 6-8 inches (not sure about exact amount),
and drill? a hole in the bottom, stick the stake end through the hole,
clip it with something that can be removed but not while it's
underground, under the bottle, and bury that. Those bottoms are tough
and I can't cut into the bottom with my exacto knife.

What I need is some kind of clip that will grip underneath so if
somebody tries to pull them up, they will meet with resistance from the
weight of the dirt that will be filling the pepsi bottle. If I don't
clip them, the stake will just pull out of the hole in the bottle and
dirt.

With the latter method, I don't have to ruin my stakes by anchoring them
in concrete or something permanent. It will be a nuisance if I want to
move them or bring them in for the winter, but if it's not one thing,
it's another.

Maybe somebody has a better idea with pvc pipe or something I wouldn't
think of. Somebody suggested on another forum that I link them all
together with chains and bury all that, but that would be really
difficult for me, first the securing part of the chains and secondly
burying all that mess.

A Pepsi bottle seems a little small to me. I would use a post hole
digger and just pour the concrete in the hole. A good thing to anchor
the post in the concrete is to get some grounding wire clamps at the
local hardware store and just attach them to the post end where it will
be buried in the concrete. No one will be able to pull the post from the
concrete. See type of clamps he
http://www.fciconnect.com/electrical...ound-clamp.htm

--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
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