Specialized Tool or Service for Removing Concrete from Inside Steel Tubes
The person needs an efficient way to get rid of hardened concrete deep inside a steel tube to fix up an old basketball hoop. Commenters have highlighted how tough and labor-intensive this task can be, suggesting the need for a specialized solution. This could be a physical product, like a long-reach, expanding mechanical breaker, a targeted chemical dissolvent that's safe for steel, or a flexible abrasive tool. Alternatively, a niche service that specializes in removing difficult materials and restoring items could be the answer. The benefits include salvaging items that might otherwise be discarded, saving money compared to buying new, promoting sustainability through reuse, and solving a frustrating problem for DIY restorers.
Origin Reddit Post
r/howto
Remove concrete from steel tube
Posted by u/ScampTheBusta•05/28/2025
What’s the most efficient way to remove this concrete from a steel tube. It goes up pretty far. Trying resurrect an old basketball hoop!
Top Comments
u/Soerinth
You mean 30 minutes before the shoulders give out and they say fuck it.
u/OutlyingPlasma
I promise the effort to remove that concrete is way way more than what you would happily pay after the fact to not have to do it.
I just priced a 2x3 inch rectangle 8 feet long at OnlineMeta
u/dgollas
Crush the whole thing, use a big magnet to extract the metal. Re form into a tube.
u/Chuggles1
Yeah. This is a rebuild one from new steel tubing kind of deal
u/boredpooping
Put it back in the ground and pour more concrete around it. That would be a "too many beer" job for me.
u/chknboy
Boutta hit the gym
*Distant metal-pipe.mp3
u/toolsavvy
No need to remove the cement. You just cement it back in the ground. Make sure at least 2/5ths of it is cemented in ground.
u/OutlyingPlasma
I promise the effort to remove that concrete is way way more than what you would happily pay after the fact to not have to do it.
I just priced a 2x3 inch rectangle 8 feet long at OnlineMeta
u/Extension-Elk-1274
I want to be your sledgehammer
Why don't you call my name
You'd better call the sledgehammer
Put your mind at rest
I'm going to be-the sledgehammer
This can be my testimony
I'm your sledgeham
u/Balaclavalava
Why do you need to remove the concrete in the first place? You can put it in a bracket and secure it that way... you could sit it in concrete as is... what plan are you going with?
u/coci222
Maybe ask Andy Dufresne if you can borrow his rock hammer
u/ltlake01
Hammer drill insert rebar tie rebar into small cage. No smash
u/Rangersmith1231
You pound on the outside with a sledge hammer, starting a bottom and move up.
Just shy of cutting into metal with a cutting wheel on the metal to get the concrete better to remove it.
Might
u/MisterSlosh
Beat the bricks out of it with a sledgehammer from bottom to top, shake out all the crumbles, and buy a new tube if the structural rigidity of the old one can't be salvaged.
Or start with t
u/GeekDadIs50Plus
Yeah, here’s your hammer and chisel, manual and powered. Regardless, this is what you’ll be doing for _only_ the next 8 years if you start right…. now!
u/ChampOfTheUniverse
Bury it.
u/boredpooping
Put it back in the ground and pour more concrete around it. That would be a "too many beer" job for me.
u/ICanStopTheRain
If it doesn’t go THAT deep, hammer drill with a chisel bit, and a lot of patience.
I knocked a 12” long, 4” diameter lump of concrete off a couple metal fenceposts this way. Although my con
u/baphometromance
Im not joking when i say the easiest way is probably destroying the whole thing, refining the metal from its crushed remains, and forging it into a new tube.
u/AtomiKen
That is a too-dificult-to-even-try kind of job.
u/ltlake01
Hammer drill insert rebar tie rebar into small cage. No smash
u/kiln_monster
That would be way too hard!! Just use it, as is!! Super sturdy basketball hoop!!
u/MisterSlosh
Beat the bricks out of it with a sledgehammer from bottom to top, shake out all the crumbles, and buy a new tube if the structural rigidity of the old one can't be salvaged.
Or start with t
u/apmyoung
Dynamite.
u/FatSteveWasted9
Why?
u/lawtrueton
This is the right answer, but still maybe get a new beam. 12hrs+ of labor (with no guarantees about actually succeeding vs. $300/500 worth of materials.
u/Gumbercules81
Don't even bother. The amount of time and effort it's going to take you to even get this out it's probably going to destroy that metal tube and your eardrums
u/dgollas
Crush the whole thing, use a big magnet to extract the metal. Re form into a tube.
u/EngineerTheArtist
Call it ballast. Bury it in a new hole with new concrete and pretend it’s all the same.
Removing it is the next homeowner’s problem.
u/CodeBest
Who made this atrocity to begin with?!?
u/AtomiKen
That is a too-dificult-to-even-try kind of job.
u/ICanStopTheRain
If it doesn’t go THAT deep, hammer drill with a chisel bit, and a lot of patience.
I knocked a 12” long, 4” diameter lump of concrete off a couple metal fenceposts this way. Although my con
u/No-Corgi
Neighbors are going to love it when this dude wails on a steel beam with a sledgehammer to 8 hrs straight.
u/billiardstourist
The old guys used to remove concrete from the concrete trucks by firing a blank shotgun cartridge inside of the drum. I've also heard that explosives are used for this purpose.
Probably not
u/thexvillain
What did you just call me‽‽
u/Chuggles1
Yeah. This is a rebuild one from new steel tubing kind of deal
u/Broncarpenter
You get a new one. That is not worth your time
u/EngineerTheArtist
Call it ballast. Bury it in a new hole with new concrete and pretend it’s all the same.
Removing it is the next homeowner’s problem.
u/Rangersmith1231
You pound on the outside with a sledge hammer, starting a bottom and move up.
Just shy of cutting into metal with a cutting wheel on the metal to get the concrete better to remove it.
Might
u/dtotzz
Why does the concrete need to come out? I would find a steel tube “sleeve” that can fit around it and bury that and then slide this in, or insert some rebar like others suggested.
u/ITSolutionsAK
Cut the concrete part, weld in new part. Not worth it to attempt to remove the concrete.
Edit:
Or get a new beam all together.
u/coci222
Maybe ask Andy Dufresne if you can borrow his rock hammer
u/mikeycbca
How can you be so obtuse?
u/LadyBirdDavis
Obtuse! Is it deliberate? The country club will have his old time cards! (My fav movie, tied with Dirty Dancing)
u/chknboy
Boutta hit the gym
*Distant metal-pipe.mp3
u/toolsavvy
No need to remove the cement. You just cement it back in the ground. Make sure at least 2/5ths of it is cemented in ground.
u/mike_avl
Or find one at your local scrap-yard for ~ $20. You don’t want anything to do with busting up that concrete and don’t tell anyone you know that you even considered it. Seriously.
u/ITSolutionsAK
Cut the concrete part, weld in new part. Not worth it to attempt to remove the concrete.
Edit:
Or get a new beam all together.