DIY Rebar Gambrel for Big Game Butchering

In this article I'll be making a gambrel, which is used to hang game animals prior to butchering. Since I'm trying to do this on the cheap, I'm using a couple pieces of rebar from the home center instead of buying round bar from a steel supplier.

These are #4 (13mm) bars, 4ft (1.2m) long, which I split in half.

The gambrels are made of two components: First is the bottom piece, which has two upturned ends and which serve as hooks to keep the animal on the gambrel. The second is the top piece, which has a simple 90-degree bend in the middle. Put them together, and it's basically like a big clothes hanger.

Bending these is pretty easy if you have a bench vise and a piece of pipe to give yourself more leverage.

With the pieces bent, all that's left to do is weld them together. I put the top piece so that the ends were on either side of the bottom piece to keep things even.

After welding and allowing it to cool down, I gave it a good coating in boiled linseed oil to reduce rusting.

I had hoped to get a deer this hunting season to show the gambrel in action, but unfortunately it didn't happen. At any rate, these are easiest to use with a rope hoist, which gives you a high mechanical advantage and makes hanging game much easier.

If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to my YouTube channel for more!

—————————————————————————————

Below is a listing of the supplies you will need. I have supplied Amazon Affiliate links to the products I used. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Supplies:

• #4 (13mm) rebar, 4ft (1.2m) long