I've been casting a lot of troughs lately, now that all of our vacationing is over. I was hoping that it would be nice and cool but we've been having the hottest spell of the summer. Above is a rectangular trough that's about 18 hours old, photographed as I removed the sides of the mold. I've already removed the inner core and the foam blocks that make up the spaces around the feet. I'm never sure if people understand how much of my handwork is visible in the trough and how much is inherent in the process. For the record, the left side of the trough above reflects how it looks as it comes out of the mold. The right side is after I've given it a good scrubbing with the wire brush. I made these three in one long, sweaty session in the garage. They are about a day and a half old in the picture. Right after the photo, I sealed them in plastic and slid them under the deck, where they can cure for a month.