posted
First time I've seen the term "Foamheads" (Rick Sacks post)it's probably been here before but it sure made me chuckle.
Since I am a still hard core redwood sign guy...I proclaim that I and others like me,from this day forth will be known as "Redheads"
Which makes me wonder if a census might be in order...How many "Redheads" exist in Letterville?
REDHEADS STAND UP!!!
Are we becoming extinct? Is there still time for a renaissance or should we succum to being a "Foamhead".
Now altho there is some really fantastic work being done with foam...you'll have to admit the term "Foamhead " has a certain aire of emptyness to it..where as "Redheads" have always been regarded as fiesty & interesting.
Now for those that will take offense to this post ...relax...my tongue is fimly lodged in my cheek.
Still I like being a "Redhead" (even if I'm a greying blonde)
-------------------- "Werks fer me...it'll werk fer you"
posted
If I use brushes mostly, does that make me a hair-head?
-------------------- "Stewey" on chat
"...there are no limits when you aim for perfection..." Jonathan Livingston Seagull Posts: 7014 | From: Highgrove via Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Dec 2002
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posted
Our work is pretty much equal to what we use between Redwood, and HDU, but I also blast Granite, Sintra and Extira, even work with MDO.
Sure glad I don't work with alot of MDO, I would hate to be called a Dough-head.
-------------------- Sam Staffan Mackinaw Art & Sign 721 S. Nokomis St. Mackinaw City, MI dstaffan@sbcglobal.net Posts: 1697 | From: Mackinaw City, MI | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
OK Monte , I just finished doing a marble sculpture, which I hope to post soon. Does that make me a marble head? My favorite has always been redwood, but now just about extinct.
-------------------- Bill Riedel Riedel Sign Co., Inc. 15 Warren Street Little Ferry, N.J. 07643 billsr@riedelsignco.com Posts: 2953 | From: Little Ferry, New Jersey, USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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posted
We used redwood for sign systems and shipped nation wide for years, but after the takeover of PALCO the quality spiraled downward until the redwood we were getting looked about like the third growth framing lumber from the local Home Depot. I miss the days of old growth redwood, however the ease of working HDU makes life easier in the shop. For example I've got two 80" circles 3" thick in the shop that are being carved into a high relief city seal. They were spec'd by the architect to be cast stone. When the quote came back for 18k they called me...HDU saved the day again. I do love the way you can make this new material look like anything from blasted wood to cast bronze...free to imagine the possibilities with few limitations in material characteristics.
-------------------- John Byrd Ball Ground, Georgia 770-735-6874 http://johnbyrddesign.com so happy I gotta sit on both my hands to keep from wavin' at everybody! Posts: 741 | From: Ball Ground, Georgia, USA | Registered: May 1999
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posted
Settle down boys I know the benifits of foam...there are a lot of things redwood can never do.
I just happen to be a guy that loves "working wood" nothing like the smell and the challenges redwood presents.
I use foam for some dimenional things that RW can't do and I do like its workability...
This isn't meant as a "Us and them" post..whoever us and them happen to be.
If being a "Foamhead" is where it's at for you...god bless you and if you're a "Red head god bless us too!
I just happen to be fortunate in the fact that I still have a good source for redwood here in Oklahoma City...so somedays I can be a "Foamhead" (when it's required) but I still really love the days I'm a "Redhead" and head that way at every opportunity.
-------------------- "Werks fer me...it'll werk fer you"
posted
Up here in The True North redwood is not readily available (read, you may get it if you're Donald Trump), used to use eastern white cedar a lot, but can't get good stuff very much, so I have been using a lot of white pine, which carves beautifully. Many of my customers like the look of stained wood, but for any signs that are going to be all paint, it's foam for me. Rodger MacMunn drives all the way to the Wet Coast for yellow cedar (I think he just likes the drive), but uses a pile of HDU also. Maybe us wood guys can be Knotheads, and the HDU folks Snotheads? MUR
-------------------- Murray MacDonald OldTime Signs 529 Third Ave S Kenora, ON. P9N 1Y3 oldtimesigns@gokenora.com Posts: 781 | From: Kenora, ON | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
An atist of lumber With wood was encumbered And so he reverted to stone Alas, says the bard The stone was too hard And so he converted to foam
Cedar rots here in the hot humid climate. Redwood cracks, checks, and paint deteriorates quicker. Been happy with the foam for about twelve years. It does none of those things and the same paint will last much longer on a foam sign than a redwood one. That's how it is here in Florida anyway. Don't get me wrong; I love the natural grain and knots. A grainframe cannot duplcate that exactly. But most customers can't tell the difference.
-------------------- Wayne Webb Webb Signworks Chipley, FL 850.638.9329 wayne@webbsignworks.com Posts: 7404 | From: Chipley,Florida,United States | Registered: Oct 1999
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posted
I used to think I was a "Redhead." Now, somehow I don't feel I can claim the title anymore. Maybe I'd better start blasting some redwood... Oh well, I'm going grey anyway.
-------------------- Tracie Johnson Signovations Ventura, California Posts: 444 | From: Ventura, California | Registered: Nov 2005
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posted
One last thought on the passing of redwood. Can you honestly say you have seen anything more beautiful than a naturally finished redwood sign?
-------------------- Bill Riedel Riedel Sign Co., Inc. 15 Warren Street Little Ferry, N.J. 07643 billsr@riedelsignco.com Posts: 2953 | From: Little Ferry, New Jersey, USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. — Charles Mingus Posts: 6736 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
Gorilla glue works fine for gluing HDU backer boards to HDU panels, etc. But it foams quite a bit more than pb240. Using pb240 and laminating large sheets, remember to mist the panels with water to catayize to glue.
I've laminated a couple of large signs with WestSystems epoxy, it worked fine and I've had no call backs on these. The largest one of them I can't check on because we installed it about 260 miles from here. But I wonder about the possibility of sheer and delamination resulting from using two materials with different expansion properties, whereas, with urethane glues, you are gluing up urethane.
-------------------- Wayne Webb Webb Signworks Chipley, FL 850.638.9329 wayne@webbsignworks.com Posts: 7404 | From: Chipley,Florida,United States | Registered: Oct 1999
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posted
Rick. Gorilla Glue works just fine ,but don't lay it on too heavy. When gluing up HDU, I put the glue on one side, use an old squeegee to spread it as thinly as possible, dampen the other face with water and clamp it up. Any squeezeout will peel off nicely with a sharp chisel. I have found that using epoxy leaves a hard line at the join,which annoys me when handcarving, whereas GG is the same consistency as the HDU. MUR
-------------------- Murray MacDonald OldTime Signs 529 Third Ave S Kenora, ON. P9N 1Y3 oldtimesigns@gokenora.com Posts: 781 | From: Kenora, ON | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
As long as we're on the subject of glues (and I'll be damned if I know how we got here)
If you'll use a serated broad blade to apply gorilla glue and use a test piece you can get to the point where there is little or no oozing around the product you glue down. Anything that seeps out ...like Murray said you can remove with an x-acto or sharp tool of your choice ...I love the stuff!
-------------------- "Werks fer me...it'll werk fer you"
posted
Well, I've noticed that I occasionally post replies that seem to stray from the original subject.... guess that makes just an ole Potentially-Off-Topic-Head.
-------------------- Jon Jantz Snappysign.com jjantz21@gmail.com http://www.allcw.com Posts: 3395 | From: Atmore, AL | Registered: Nov 2005
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posted
Used to be a redhead then found koa,great stuff from da islands, then the volcano took out the forest. now i'm a foamhead,Koahead sounds better though.
posted
Hard for me to get used to the oxymoron..."looks like real fake wood doesn't it" when the real stuff is out there...so it's REDHEAD and CEDARHEAD here...however it is getting tough for me to find...if anyone has a good supplier let me know...I live in Tennessee...I do always use HDU for any carvings that I apply to the blasted wooden sign...
posted
I was never much of a redhead; like Steve Purcell, I always liked mahogany better - and a varnished mahogany sign always looks better than redwood, though its a similar color.
That said, I'm now a 99% foamhead. When mahogany comes in 4x8 sheets, with no waste or end checks, and carves in 1/3 the time, I'll go back.
-------------------- "A wise man concerns himself with the truth, not with what people believe." - Aristotle
Cam Bortz Finest Kind Signs Pondside Iron works 256 S. Broad St. Pawcatuck, Ct. 06379 "Award winning Signs since 1988" Posts: 3051 | From: Pawcatuck,Connecticut USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
That would have been me at one time,but I just don't go looking for the sign work like I used to. Now days I just paint perty pikchurs and some like it some don't and I am not fussin' bout nuthing like it didn't happen.
I will vote REDHEAD, though.! Never liked walking on that gritty stuff from foam and I have worked on a lot of it.
Jack
-------------------- Jack Wills Studio Design Works 1465 E.Hidalgo Circle Nye Beach / Newport, OR Posts: 2914 | From: Rocklin, CA. USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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posted
Hmmmmmmm, let's see, I use eastern white pine stained with 1Shot and a clear urethane finish. How much time do ya figger I have before I get run outa town by all those past customers whose 1 year old signs turn to rot?????
Man, I can't get anything right.
That aside, G Glue and foam. I put 2 small beads of GGlue spaced about a third of the way in from each edge. Wet the opposite face. Bring the edges together and slide the boards back and forth and clamp. In no time, small beads of glue shows on the joint. In about an hour, when the glue is not tacky any longer but not hard, I just remove the beads with a putty knife.
joe,
Makin Chips and Havin Fun!
-------------------- Joe Cieslowski Connecticut Woodcarvers Gallery P.O.Box 368 East Canaan CT 06024 jcieslowski@snet.net 860-824-0883 Posts: 2345 | From: East Canaan CT 06024 | Registered: Nov 2001
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