We've historically specialized in Sandblasted Redwood.
The Clear, All-Heart Vertical Grain boards we used to pick through to laminate our own sign blanks have been non-existent down here for 3 or 4 years.
I've built a cool "grain-frame" type of deal and we've tried Spanish Cedar and even resorted to using lots of salvage redwood.
Recently bought some blanks from Himes & Star. OK, but not as nice as what we use to make.
Just wondering what everyone else's situation was.
Posted by Rene Giroux (Member # 4980) on :
Clear, all heart, any-grain, by the sheet HDU is the way to go now... the odd red cedar!
Haven't seen red-wood in ages... Posted by jake snow (Member # 5889) on :
Have not gotten any good redwood in a long time. Last one I did ('out 2 years ago)was less than nice. Hate to say it, but I switched to cedar and H.D.U. Posted by Jon Jantz (Member # 6137) on :
Speaking of redwood... I have an uncle who lives around Merced, CA and his house was taken by imminent domain and torn down about a month ago because of the expansion of Hwy. 99 through that area..
It was the house my dad grew up in and was well over a hundred years old. Here's the heartbreaker: it was completely built with redwood. All the walls were nailed out with redwood boards, the studs and rafters were made of redwood and even the exterior was sided with redwood planks...
Some of us wanted to get a bunch of it, but it would have been too hard to coordinate with the demolition crews, so it got loaded on a truck, hauled away and probably burned.
Posted by jake snow (Member # 5889) on :
Now that is frickin sad!
Gotta love progress...
Posted by goddinfla (Member # 1502) on :
I remember getting 20' lengths of clear all heart redwood 2 x 12's. I'd mill up 4' x 20' sheets and cut sign sizes out of them. The heartbreaking part, I paid about $3 a board foot. If only I'd known.
Posted by Michael R. Bendel (Member # 5847) on :
I was there through the depletion of good redwood too. It was fairly abundant & all clear heart.
It slowly started changing to clear heart B grade, Then B grade, then construction grade. They all warped except the clear-heart.
It's cedar & HDU now. I have little or no requests for redwood. I paint most everything anyway.
Redwood stain on cedar looks pretty rich if redwood is demanded.
I still have 7 or 8 10"x20' planks of B grade redwood from 5 or so years ago. I refuse to use it.
Posted by Laura Butler (Member # 1830) on :
I live real close to where Vlasic pickles are made. They take the cuks and soak them in huge vats of brind. The tanks are made of redwood. I few years ago they replaced a bunch of the tanks and a friend and went bought a whole bunch of the boards. Sure wish that I could have known about it then.
ps. I have been using white cedar. Its looks just as good.
[ March 13, 2007, 10:12 AM: Message edited by: Laura Butler ]
Posted by Wayne Webb (Member # 1124) on :
I did one about 4 months ago out of 2x12 clear. all heart vertical grain. That was the last of what I had in 12''. We have a stack of 2x8 vertical grain and another of 2x8 flat grain and I just keep it for that rare customer who insists on wood.
We've gone to HDU. It holds up better and the paint lasts MUCH longer on it in my neck of the woods.
Posted by Kristi Percell (Member # 255) on :
Hi Glenn,
We are located in Northern California, at the gateway to the redwoods. So we can still purchase decent materials at most local stores.
However, we use a company called Lewis Redwood Products (Merchants here) for most of our needs. They are located in the heart of redwood country. They laminate them and build them to your specs.
I would recommend giving Clista a call at 800-323-9990 and get some prices and estimated delivery costs.
I believe they also offer blasting services too.
Kristi
Posted by bill riedel (Member # 607) on :
Several years ago someone wrote an article about redwood and said that it was being sold and shipped to Japan. I for one miss it very much, no other wood carves as well and looks so good, as long as it is the real stuff. Verticle grain heartwood with the grain so close you had to look for it. Every time we come on something good for the sign business, they take it away.
Posted by Ricky Jackson (Member # 5082) on :
We were the first ones in the middle Ga area to do a sandblasted sign. About 20 years ago, when we were doing sandblasted signs out the wazoo, I bought a truckload (*tractor/trailer load!*) of redwood and the vendor was coming to Ga on vacation so he brought me a picture of the log that my lumber was cut from. He was standing on top of a chunk of redwood about 12' diameter. I think that was the last redwood I ever bought. Seeing that monsterous tree and knowing that it had been here for thousands of years made me so sad. Even tho I was told that they only used deadfalls, I could never bring myself to use it again. It's been HDU all the way since then. I introduced Sign Foam to about 50 letterheads at my Mad SIGNtist Symposium. When I called the Sign Foam people they didn't even know who the Letterheads were but I convinced them to send us a box of samples.
Posted by Tony McDonald (Member # 1158) on :
I've only made a couple wood signs, but have one coming up.
The last time I special ordered some 2 x 12 western red cedar from the lumber yard, and used biscuits to make the blank. Then I used 1 x 12 cedar to cut the lettering, etc.. and screwed and glued them on from the back.
Would white cedar be a better material?
I'm down to the pricing part. If I remember right, even the 6 x 6 rough cedar posts were about $60 each.
Thanks, Tony
Posted by Glenn S. Harris (Member # 2190) on :
I'm refinishing a sign made from pickle-vat redwood right now.
Personally, I'd rather use HDU as well. We made one with the "grain-frame" I made recently and you can't tell it's not wood unless you're right up close. Most lay-people probably can't tell at all.
Unfortunately HDU is a tough sell for some people down here. They don't even want to hear about something synthetic.
Looks like we'll be using allot of cypress. Tough to blast, but it sells.
Posted by Glenn S. Harris (Member # 2190) on :
Tony,
Not sure biscuits are necessary. We've never used them. We like to blast deep.
Posted by Deri Russell (Member # 119) on :
I quit using Redwood in 1997. Just wasn't decent material left up here anymore. So now when customers come in and STILL want Redwood I show them my sample of the last redwood I had and a finished HDU sign. Then I tell them the Redwood is about twice the price of HDU. (Not really but it makes for a better response.) It's surprising how fast they say "Geez, I think the HDU is the way to go don't you?"
Posted by Steve Shortreed (Member # 436) on :
Lewis Redwood Products were Merchants here in Letterville for years. I was surprized to learn they were no longer with us, but gave Clista a call to get the real story.
According to Clista, there is all sorts of redwood available at Lewis Redwood Products. Please let them know you heard about them here! We want them back.
1-800-323-9990
Posted by Glenn S. Harris (Member # 2190) on :
We talked to them a few days ago. Just got a bunch of old cypress so...
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