Post #613535 by MadDogMike on Thu, Nov 10, 2011 6:55 PM

Thanks for the sympathy guys :D I'm pretty patient so it's not a big problem, but I am on a Christmas deadline so I need to get moving on this. And because I'm just in this for the fun, the journey is good even when the finished project doesn't work out (however, it is much more satifying when a project works out like you planned :lol: )

The directions say that mesh or rebar are not needed because of the short span of the concrete bench, and the first one worked out without any reinforcement. The concrete is pretty fragile when it comes out of the mold, it needs to cure for a week before it can be really handled. Maybe the area I unmolded it on wasn't quite level enough and stressed it? Maybe sifting out some of the rocks was a bad idea? Maybe the rods attached to the ceramic pieces affected it somehow. Vezzini said that when the job goes wrong, go back to the beginning. So I'm going back to the industrial strength contact paper in the bottom of the mold like the first one.