Hi hi~

I'm trying to match an old piece of stock. Client doesn't know exactly when it came to be, just that the wing of the building we pulled it from was added 15 years ago.

It's .125" thick with a color cap on each side which looks thereabouts of .01. Front and back are grey, Pantone looks somewhere between 422 and 423. Finish is matte. Core is white.

It doesn't match anything in my Rowmark, IPI, or New Hermes swatchbooks. If no one jumps up and down and says, "It's this!" I'll sub something in and say the original faded with extreme age. Best case scenario, he'll decide to redo the entire lot.

Thanks for the help,
Sei

Take a bit and put a wide, maybe .040 scratch on the back. That should show the original color.

The Rowmark Battleship Gray is about a #415. It has a faintly greenish tinge compared to your color which is a real gray. It could have been a special order.

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

Harvey's Sub Page When you finally understand it completely... it changes.

Please feel free to send a sample to me and I will see if we have anything that can match.

Send to:

Phil Noakes
Rowmark Inc.
2040 Industrial Drive
Findlay, Ohil 45840

I will do all I can to help.

Phil

SEI,

I think he meant to address that to you.

So here is a reply to get your notification sent.

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

Harvey's Sub Page When you finally understand it completely... it changes.

Sei,

Is the material rigid? If so, it may be 3-ply phenolic.

David "The Stunt Engraver" Lavaneri
DGL Engraving
Port Hueneme, CA

Harvey,

Scratching isn't giving me much. It just frosts and lightens the area. Was worth a try, though.

Paul,

I really appreciate the offer. I'll see what I can do to get some to you. Right now I just have a small sign we pulled from the wall, and the client is already very eager to get that back in place. I'll talk to him about it and see if he's willing to go without it for a while longer.

Glad to see Rowmark has a representative with us. Welcome to the forum.

David,

Now that you mention it, the material is far more rigid than my standard .125 plastics. There's also some slight chipping at the edges of the surface, and bad chipping on the back. I'd written it off to age and poor craftsmanship. I've never worked with phenolic personally...

Thanks all!
Sei

Sei,

Paul's name is Phil :-)

Phenolic has to be cut with carbide-tipped saws, such as the safety saws, sold by a number of engraving supply houses, or you can fit a standard table saw with a carbide-tipped blade.

It's getting a little hard to come by, but I believe Ability Plastics carries a line of phenolic.

www.abilityplastics.net

David "The Stunt Engraver" Lavaneri
DGL Engraving
Port Hueneme, CA

Ack, sorry Phil. When I replied to David's message I only had his to reference and my mind burped.

[sheepish]

I'll see what Ability has. Thank you David. I'd guess that a carbide router bit would bit the material just fine, including cutting out the final piece?

Sei

Sei,

Yes, a carbide cutter can be used to profile the material into special shapes. Cutters don't hold up very well to phenolic. It's best to have spares on hand, or better yet, if you'll be working with the material a lot, buy a used (or new) cutter grinder.

David "The Stunt Engraver" Lavaneri
DGL Engraving
Port Hueneme, CA

[nods] Gotcha. A grinder is something I've been thinking about... packing up cutters and sending them off isn't terribly efficient, and I end up using cutters I probably shouldn't any more because of the wait.

Ability plastics has a grey with white core, and they are sending me a chip to try and match up.

Thanks for all the help.

Sei

My wife has called me a lot worse names than Paul (that's our son). I will answer to about anything.

Good luck in finding the material you are looking for, I think the group nailed it as a phenolic. A few distributors still offer that material.

Phil

Sei

This is you time to shine. Talk with the customer and tell him matching
the old stuff is not going to happen. Then go through some of the new
products that are now offered. For interior signage - some of the new
granite colors are just beautiful. Rowmark's booth was filled with signage
made by them with their products - it was awsome to say the least.
Rowmark won first place again this year for their booth design.
If you could do a sample or two for the customer to show them what
you can do it will put you in the drivers seat.

Joe,

That's a darn good point.

Chuck

I would think it happens more often than not.