400 lbs of Light Weight Cement?

I was all ready for my first large cement casting, I had the ingredients, mold was prepped, armature welded up and materials measured out. Estimates on the surface area put the cement at about 225Lbs. So I started in on a Friday morning. One side complete by evening. The trick to concrete is to cast continuously , never letting the material reach full cure where you are going to add more. Saturday morning early I was casting side 2 and assembling components. Some breakage occurred, then an armature alignment issue, causing me to cut metal and remove the base rig. By dinner time I was exhausted but not done. A quick meal and back to this fight, to select a place at which I could stop for the night without leaving a major flaw in the cement work. By 3 AM the skin was all assembled and the armature welds figured out. My pre-measured ingredients were gone a long time ago. I’m now into my entire stash of stuff to get this monster finished. The weight grows. I realize I’m at about 340 lbs now.

Little things like lifting, positioning and rolling over an object of this size when it is still delicate pose quite a challenge. Just me and my modified engine hoist in the middle of the night maxed out to it’s highest lifting point is an eerie thing. I’m propping it up to get a new position on the lifting strap. It is dangerous and tentative. Jazz saxophone in the background is calming but the panic is immediate. Be quick before this heavy sucker shifts or falls. Tension and adrenaline into an old guy’s body already drained from two days of continuous lifting, mixing , stooping and calculating. Whew, back on the hook! Position achieved, next operation.

The shower and bed feels pretty good but is short lived. Sunday morning I am back to weld in the base armature, fill the core with foam and layer in my partitions and finally trowel off the bottom of this massive base.

At the end of the session I had over 400 lbs of material and 39 hours in three days.

How does it feel to see her standing complete, out of the mold? Decompressing and joyous. Now comes all the finishing, grinding and polishing, but not tonight. Tonight I drink and wonder what the …. Is the matter with me? Where are the studio assistants? Am I out of my mind? I like to sing a country song these days, “I ain’t as good as I once was, but I’m as good once as I ever was.”

Thanks,

Tj

(with a little Toby Kieth)