Did some concrete grinding, getting some more concrete pillar parts stacked. About to sharpen some pruning shears and get busy ahead of trash pickup day.
The pillar parts are cast in molds with open tops. A little uneveness of the casting platform, a little capillary action in the fluting of the mold and the open top surface is a bit uneven. So I wrap them in a section of sonotube which is used as an even height reference then set about grinding things. Every concrete piece has a flat square bottom and a rough 'top'. So one face has to be worked, the other used as-is. The way I am arranging / inverting the pieces, I only have to dress 2 joints out of 5, or 4 faces out of 12. Per column. Rest of the joints are flat bottom to flat bottom.
I could have taken greater time in setup and crafted some mold supports which let me cast the pieces in vertical halves, which would have made it easier to assemble the pieces around a full-height post or stanchion. But I was in a hurry to get casting. Project is taking too long as it is. I also was originally going to cast the pieces solid, but weight concerns became a thing, so was casting them hollow. The post solution came after.
ETA - got greedy and put a 3rd layer in place this afternoon. 5ht pic. Tomorrow the 4th layer of castings goes in place and then the last segment of the posts. Might have it all together by the end of the weekend.
) and my pickle fork splitter is too big to do tie rods and this sucka is seized in good and proper.
