Ironworker Red Seal rebar cutting, bending, placing and splicing practice questions.

Five free practice questions on rebar cutting, bending, placing and splicing: block C of the Ironworker (Generalist) Red Seal exam, 21 of its 120 questions. The same work is block C of the Reinforcing exam (49 of its 120 questions). The Structural/Ornamental exam does not include it. Each question is labelled with the exams it belongs to. They are in the exam's format: four options, one correct answer. Answer each one before opening the explanation. No account, no email.

01The questions

1. Recall · Bends reinforcing materials · Generalist and Reinforcing exams

   A bar list shows a hook on the end of a 15M bar but does not say what kind. Which hook is assumed?

   1. 45° hook
   2. 90° hook
   3. 135° hook
   4. 180° hook
   Show the answer

   B. Correct. When a hook is called for without its type, standard practice assumes a 90° hook, bent around the standard pin with its standard extension.

   Why not the others

   A. 45° is a bend, not one of the standard hooks (90°, 135° and 180°). When the type is not specified, a 90° hook is assumed.

   C. A 135° hook is a specific detail that the drawings must call for. An unspecified hook is taken as 90°.

   D. A 180° hook is a specific detail that must be called for; it is not the default. An unspecified hook is taken as 90°.

2. Recall · Places reinforcing material · Generalist and Reinforcing exams

   A bridge barrier wall is reinforced with glass-fibre-reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars. Which standard covers these bars?

   1. CSA S807.
   2. CSA G30.18.
   3. CSA W186.
   4. CSA A23.4.
   Show the answer

   A. Correct. CSA S807 covers fibre-reinforced polymer bars and grids, the non-metallic bars used where steel would corrode.

   Why not the others

   B. CSA G30.18 covers carbon-steel deformed and plain bars. Polymer bars have their own standard, CSA S807.

   C. CSA W186 covers welding of reinforcing bars; polymer bars are not welded at all. They are covered by CSA S807.

   D. CSA A23.4 covers precast concrete materials and construction. GFRP bars are covered by CSA S807.

3. Procedural · Cuts reinforcing materials · Generalist and Reinforcing exams

   A bridge contract says reinforcing bars may be cut by oxy-fuel torch only where permitted in writing by the contract administrator. A 20M bar is 150 mm too long and there is no written permission. How is it cut?

   1. With a torch, then grind the end square.
   2. Cold, with a shear or a rebar cutter.
   3. With a torch, once a fire watch is posted.
   4. Bent into a hook instead of cut off.
   Show the answer

   B. Correct. Mechanical cutting with a shear or rebar cutter is not restricted by the clause, so the bar is cut cold. Torch cutting would need the written permission first.

   Why not the others

   A. Grinding afterwards does not change that the bar was torch cut, which this contract allows only with written permission. Cut it cold with a shear or cutter.

   C. A fire watch deals with fire risk, not the contract's restriction; torch cutting still needs written permission here. Cut it cold.

   D. Field bending a bar the drawings show straight needs approval too, and a hook changes the detail. Cut the extra 150 mm off cold.

4. Recall · Ties reinforcing materials · Generalist and Reinforcing exams

   The drawings and specification for a warehouse slab say nothing about the wire for hand-tying its uncoated 400R bars. Which wire is used?

   1. Black annealed wire, 20-gauge.
   2. Black annealed wire, 12-gauge.
   3. Black annealed wire, 16-gauge.
   4. Galvanized wire, 16-gauge.
   Show the answer

   C. Correct. Unless the engineer specifies otherwise, tie wire is 16-gauge black annealed wire. Coated, galvanized or stainless wire is used only where the bars themselves call for it, which plain 400R bar does not.

   Why not the others

   A. 20-gauge is a much lighter wire than the default for hand ties. With nothing specified, 16-gauge black annealed wire is used.

   B. 12-gauge is a much heavier wire than the default; it is used where a specification calls for heavier ties. With nothing specified, hand ties use 16-gauge black annealed wire.

   D. Galvanized (zinc-coated) wire is for tying galvanized bars. Plain uncoated bar takes the default 16-gauge black annealed wire.

5. Procedural · Splices reinforcing materials · Generalist and Reinforcing exams

   A placing drawing shows 20M bars in a retaining wall lapped at a construction joint but gives no lap length, and the general notes are silent. What does the crew do?

   1. Splice them with couplers, which need no lap length.
   2. Lap 40 bar diameters, a figure often quoted for 20M.
   3. Use the lap shown for the 20M bars in the footing below.
   4. Ask for the lap through a request for information.
   Show the answer

   D. Correct. Lap length and splice location are the engineer's to set, and they change with bar size, concrete strength, bar position and coating. A request for information gets the figure in writing before the bars are placed.

   Why not the others

   A. A coupler is a different splice from the one detailed: it needs the engineer's approval and the right coupler supplied, so it is no way around a missing figure. The lap length is obtained through a request for information.

   B. A remembered figure is not the engineer's lap. Lap lengths vary with concrete strength, bar position, coating and spacing, so the length must come from the engineer through a request for information.

   C. A lap detailed for a footing may not suit a wall: the engineer sets each lap for its own conditions. The missing figure is obtained through a request for information.

02Answer key

03What block C covers

Reinforcing steel from the bar list to the pour: bar sizes, grades and their markings, cutting and bending bars on site, hooks and bending pins, epoxy-coated and glass-fibre-reinforced polymer bars, reading placing drawings and bar lists, bar supports and concrete cover, welded wire fabric, tying, and splicing with laps, mechanical couplers and welded splices.

The Red Seal Occupational Standard for Ironworker (Generalist) names this block “Fabricates and installs reinforcing materials”. On the Generalist exam it carries 17.5% of the questions, 21 of the 120, split across two tasks. The share column is each task's weight within the block, as the Generalist standard publishes it; the other columns are the questions each exam gives the task, from each exam's information page (a dot means the task is not on that exam; Structural/Ornamental numbers its tasks as shown in brackets).

04What the questions turn on

Cut length adds two bar diameters per bend

A 25M L-bar with legs of 400 and 1 000 mm and one bend is cut 400 + 1 000 + 2 x 25 = 1 450 mm long. That rule is on the Reinforcing formula sheet; the Generalist sheet has its own line for the overall length of a bar with two hooks but not this one.

The pin changes at 30M

Standard hooks on uncoated grade 400 bar are bent around a pin of 6 bar diameters for 10M to 25M and 8 for 30M and 35M, so the pin is changed between them. A hook called for without its type is taken as a 90 degree hook.

Cover goes to the outermost steel

Unless the drawings say otherwise, cover is measured from the concrete face to the outermost bar, the ties in a column, not the verticals. To space bars at a maximum, divide the run between the end bars by the spacing, round the spaces up, and add one for the bar count.

Laps belong to the engineer

A lap the drawings do not give is asked for through a request for information, not taken from a rule of thumb. Bars larger than 35M are not lapped to one another: they are joined with couplers or welded splices, as the engineer details.

05The other blocks

The Generalist exam has six blocks, and the Structural/Ornamental and Reinforcing exams are built from four of them each. Every block has its own page of free questions:

The Ironworker Red Seal practice exam page describes the full question bank. How these questions are written and checked: how our questions are made. Found a mistake? Tell us and we will fix it.