User:Leo Wassall/Cast sign blanks that look like sandblasted redwood

Cast sign Blanks that look like Sandblasted Redwood manufactured from solid polyester or high density urethane (HDU; Urethane). As high quality old growth redwood has become rarer and harder to get, Sandblasted redwood signs have become extremely expensive especially ones manufactured from the all heart clear vertical grain old growth redwood. http://www.thefreelibrary.com/OLD-GROWTH+REDWOODS+AT+HEART+OF+CALIFORNIA+CONSERVATION+BATTLE-a083899522 A company in North Carolina (Classic Signs) has developed a process where it makes a sign blank from high quality old growth redwood and then makes a mold using silicone http://www.signblasters.com which allows it to cast sign blanks in either high density urethane foam which is relatively lightweight (approximately 20lbs per cubic foot)or from polyester resin which is much more dense (50lbs per cubic foot)and has extremely good vandal and hurricane resistance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrvXAFfvpGA Over the past eighteen years tens of thousands of signs have been cast thus saving a huge amount of redwood.

There are one or two companies that cast either urethane or polyester, however Classic Signs is the only sign company in America, and possibly the world, that produces sign blanks in both materials specifically for the Sign Industry and from such high quality originals. High Density Urethane is excellent for manufacturing signs. Originally designed for the Aerospace Industry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyurethane; it is used today in everything from nuclear submarines (as insulation between the 9" thick steel plates) http://www.reedconstructiondata.com/documents/FS/catalogs/xxxxxx10031323xxca18329/allSm.pdf to the automotive industry where many dashboard and interior moldings are produced. http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4048105.html . It is also used in airplanes. It has a very low expansion contraction factor http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TWT-4JWMTBP-3&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=8076ed6cb3336242b199a8ab23d106ff; it is impervious to water; it can be made in almost any density; it will not crack, warp or check and has zero moisture content.

The high density urethane foam is often produced as sheet materials for the sign and graphics industry.http://www.signfoam.com amongst several others, but it is only Classic Signs that is producing sign blanks in this way (since 1991).

The same molds can be used to produce polyester sign blanks. Although visually these are the same even down to a microscopic level the sign or signblank produced is much heavier but more importantly, extremely strong and impact resistant. http://www.signblasters.com/urethane_%26_polyester_sign_information.htm