Hand Shaping HDU made simple with Precision Board Plus

The Concrete Canoe Team of Chico State University was determined to build a mold out of high-density urethane this year when they found Coastal Enterprises Company through their competitors at University Nevada Reno Concrete Canoe. They initially intended to go with a mold design that would be CNC machined. However, due to changes in design they ran out of time and were forced to hand-shape their mold.

Foam 1

PBLT-10, PBLT-15

Foam 2

PBLT-10, PBLT-15

 

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PBLT-10, PBLT-15

Foam 5

PBLT-10, PBLT-15

Foam 8

PBLT-10, PBLT-15

They were a little apprehensive at first having never worked with high-density urethane before. “We weren’t sure exactly how smoothly it was going to go, but once we started to work with it, we loved it! The Precision Board cut easily and was insanely workable. Using only hand tools, rasps, and files the results were smoother and more streamlined than we could have ever hoped for.” Chico State Team Member Kaylie Humbert said.

“The canoe project itself took months, however the Precision Board mold that we created only took a single day. It was so easy to work with I would absolutely recommend it. None of the team members had any experience working with Precision Board before and as beginners we were very pleased with the results that we were able to achieve. I can only imagine what professionals would do with it.”

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For more information check out Chico States Concrete Canoe Team.

Pleasing Signs From Paducah: Keeping The Hand-carved Tradition Alive

Rob Estes, of Brushstroke Signs in Paducah KY, wants everyone to know that hand carving is still alive! Rob has been making signs since 1985 and has always been an avid hand carver and hand painter.  He’s been using Precision Board Plus for years for his dimensional signs and does not own a CNC, and he doesn’t plan on buying one anytime soon. “I use Precision Board Plus because it’s the premier HDU on the market. It is easy to carve and I can be extremely creative in my designs”.

Rob has always specialized in sandblasted, hand carved designs, and gets the most joy from designing and fabricating these types of signs. For years he’s also been very involved in gold leafing, smaltz, digital printing, hand painting, vehicle wraps, logo design and branding.

“This year it seems like we’re getting more calls for dimensional signs and I feel an optimism that I haven’t felt in a long time.”

Rob, for many of his 27 years in the sign industry, has been involved in The MidCoast Letterheads and is still very involved in meets that include hand carving, gold leaf on glass, and hand painting (to name a few). Being part of Letterheads ‘The Keepers of the Craft’, is extremely important to him.

Rob is also involved with “The Walldogs” which is a group that specializes in hand painting large wall murals.

If you’d like to talk to Rob about his work and get a quote, or get involved in Letterheads or Walldogs, give him a call at (270) 442-8665 or e-mail him at rob@brushstrokesigns.com. Be sure to ask about his portfolio because he definitely has enough talent to help you out, no matter what the need is!

Precision Board In High Definition

The beautiful signs we see made by our customers never cease to amaze us. Paul Martin from Piccadilly Signs in Winnipeg, Canada, sent in some high-definition pictures of a recent sign he completed. Using a combination of CNC-routed and hand-carved PBLT-15 and PBLT-18, he created this great looking sign. We were very impressed with how he made Precision Board Plus look like weathered wood. What do you guys think? We would love to see your comments.

Check out his website at: http://piccadillysigns.com/index.html




 

 

 

 

Check out this beautiful sign from Piccadilly!

Paul and Kelsey Martin of Piccadilly Signs, located in Winnipeg, Canada, sent us several pictures of a beautiful sign they crafted using Precision Board Plus HDU. Using PBLT-15, they handcarved a 24″ x 32″ piece in two layers, and stacked it to 2″ thick. They then used Magic Sculpt for the birds eyes and small rocks. Everything else, including larger rocks were hand carved, followed by priming and painting. Finally, they finished with 3 coats of clear coat and ended up with this masterpiece!

Check out their website here for additional information.

 

Hand Carving HDU – Quality & Elegance

Curt Stenz from Curt Stenz Graphics, in Marathon, WI sent us a picture of a recent hand-carved sign he made for a customer.

Hand carving is considered by some sign makers to be the epitome of craftsmanship in the industry. The hours of patience and the amount of skill involved in finishing a hand-carved sign is tremendous. We were very impressed at the quality and elegance with which Curt finished this sign.

He started out with a 2″ 4′ x 8′ sheet of PBLT-15. Using a latex paint for the background and 1-shot enamel for the lettering and pictorial, he ended up with this beautiful sign! If you would like to get in touch with Curt, he can be reached at: stenzgraphics@gmail.com.

Have some questions about hand-carving HDU? Call us at: (800) 845-0745! We offer free technical support 8:00AM – 5:00PM Monday through Friday, PST.

Thank you Curt for sending this in!