You want them to cure slowly, We had ours in the shade during cooler weather of early Fall. Ric would take a hose and very "lightly" spray them each day so they wouldn't dry out too soon. They were also covered with plastic to help keep them from drying out too soon. After about 4 days they were good and solid but still soft enough to easily use the grinder and metal file to clean up the edges. Be a little careful when handling them at this stage. Since it was Fall we just let them sit in the barn till next Spring that is when I painted them. I would say that for them to be completely cured would be a couple of weeks to a month.
