4. Building the Strongback

To provide a stable, level platform for the forms, I built a strongback of 1/2" plywood and 1x2 furing strips in the form of a box beam. The box beam is supposed to be easy to build square and level.

Unfortunately, my plywood got rained on, and took on a warp, so my end result was not perfectly level. To fix this, I added an 8" strip of MDF left over from the forms, and shimmed it level.

Also, the porch I'm working on does not have a level floor, so that complicates things. Ideally, I would like a woodshop to work in, but for now I share a 3 bedroom apartment so I am happy to have any working space at all.

The porch is well lit during the day, and though unheated, it is enclosed, which will help when I apply epoxy (Epoxy needs a minimum temperature to cure).