Concrete Handbook

From the introduction to the book: In writing this book I have imagined the reader as a creative person, perhaps an artist, who would like to try concrete and needs technical information. I have tried to write the book that I wished I had when I started working in this extraordinary material. Most of the engineering, research and practical development in this area has been done in the construction industry. Suppliers of basic materials and additives are geared to that market as well. Hopefully I have made some connections between these two worlds. Concrete is a vast subject. My intent is to explain the theory and principles of concrete, to give you the tools to understand what is happening, rather than the details in making a particular object. The book is about working directly with concrete, not about casting multiples. I have also intentionally set limitations of scale: jeweler, sculpture and small functional objects. It will not cover large outdoor works, such as cast-in-place sculpture. Beyond the basic principles of concrete, the book explains mixes and additives and how these mixes must be changed for different uses. It explains several methods of forming concrete. Most of the techniques and mixes I have tried, and for those I haven't I have given basic information from reputable sources along with leads for more research.