Does Coroplast Give Older Guys More "Stamina?"

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Bob Shirk MCPF

CGF II, Certified Grumble Framer Level 2
Joined
Dec 27, 2000
Posts
247
Loc
Shippensburg, PA USA
Tuesday night I was on a teleconference with about a dozen other framers as part of a CPF recertification class, it was great, but that is another topic. One of the framers in the class mentioned that they are now able to purchase Coroplast through Larson Juhl. Does anyone know which LJ warehouse stocks Coroplast? I would love to be able to get Coroplast from Larson Juhl. I know they don't make much money on the flat stuff but it sure would be nice if they stocked Coroplast. I think there would be a pretty good demand for the stuff.

Edit: Topic title changed by moderator to generate interest. Address any concerns to Marc Lizer.

[ 10-19-2003, 06:31 PM: Message edited by: Ron Eggers ]
 
I hadn't heard that, Bob, but it would be very nice.

My Coroplast supply is dwindling since Vicki Schober stopped carrying it, and I find I am hording it. I've been told they would special order it with a 315-sheet minimum. I should live so long.

I've been using Artcare fome as filler for many projects, which is an expensive alternative.

Maybe if every one of us asked our L-J reps about Coroplast (don't be discouraged if they've never heard of it) the word might eventually work its way up to the decision-maker.

Would that be Warren Buffet?
 
I have talked to my rep about LJ handling polyflute but have not heard anything further.

I buy from SmallCorp and they will ship free if you buy a total of 6 cases of product other than polyflute. I've done it a couple of times and it's worked out good so far, but it's always a deep breath before committing to those quantities.
 
I found a graphics supplier up in I******* that carried coroplast and they had a stack of coroplast left over from a large project that they cut for a customer. The stacks were 6' high and measured about 48"x46". I bought an entire station wagon full for a few bucks and split it with Mark.

This may be a good outlet for many of you to get coroplast in your area. 4'x8' sheets are a bit bulky to haul in anything smaller than a van or a pickup but smaller cutoffs such as I found can be easily transported and the people said that, if I wanted to buy full sheets later, they would cut them in half for me for nothing.

I only use coroplast for filler board and use only the regular white coroplast since they didn't know about the "archival" coroplast. But, until further testing is done on the drawbacks of using regular coro, I will continue to use it for filler boards.

Framerguy
 
What do you say ladies and gentlemen? Should we start a grass roots effort to get a distributor that we already deal with to supply a product that many of us would like to purchase? There is one fly in the ointment that comes to mind. Adding polyflute to their offering would probably cut into the sale of foamcore.
 
They could sell us the Craig Ponzio designer line of branded Polyflute for twice what it's worth and it would STILL be cheaper than fomecore.

(Don't musunderstand. I do very well with the Craig Ponzio mouldings.)
 
unfortunately the grassroots movement (I count 4 of us so far) hasn't reached critical mass.

I tried to get some of the local shops to go in on a buy of the polyflute. I had one taker that was willing to buy a box of 25 4mm 32x40. They used one sheet and asked if I would buy it back from them, they weren't happy with the way it cut. Until this product makes it to a trade show and is promoted by a distributor we will probably have to be scrounging to get our own supplies.
Not only would it cut the sales of Acid Free Foam board, but the distributors would probably lose a bit of their purchasing power from the supplier.
Bainbridge has a major sale going on for their foamboard products in addition to their rebate program so the costs for polyflute + delivery, and foambord delivered for free are converging.
 
Maybe we need to form a buying co-op. I worked for a lumber yard that belonged to a buying co-op. They started out buying nails with a couple of other lumber yards. They are now one of the largest and most powerful buying co-ops. Needless to say they buy a lot more than nails today.

I'd still like to buy polyflute from a distributor that I am already dealing with.

Maybe we could gain more interest if Ron would change the title of this thread to something a little more flashy like "grass roots movement" or "sexy polyflute idea".
 
Maybe Jim Miller could give us an update about how the group Coroplast purchase he was coordinating a while back turned out.

Part of the problem is that most of us would rather buy 30 4x8 sheets each month than 360 annually (in one delivery.) I have lots of space here, but storing 4x8 sheets of anything is problematic and I'd rather not cut the stuff down, since I sometimes use large pieces.

I WILL change the title of this topic - on a trial basis - to see what happens.
 
As a matter of fact coroplast DOES cure baldness. Just cut and score coroplast in the shape of a box then put box on your head.
 
Yeah, sure, stick it to the bald guys again!!

When I was first married, I drove a little red Triumph TR-3 with bucket seats and a short little stick shift sticking right up there in the way for late night ................. well, you know what I mean. :eek:

Anyway, my wife told me after one of these "late nighters" (yeah, we did that stuff even after we got hitched) that she could tell how "experienced" I was at this sort of activity by the fact that I had rubbed all the hair off the top of my head on the passenger's door!

I didn't take offense by bald jokes then and I don't now. I was just surprised at the change in title for the thread.

Oh, Judy, does that "cure" come with or without eyeholes??


Framerguy
 
Originally posted by Ron Eggers:
Maybe Jim Miller could give us an update about how the group Coroplast purchase he was coordinating a while back turned out.
Click to expand...
Jim still has about 20 sheets left from the last buy. After the holidays I'll surely be prowling for more. But until then, there are too many other things I need to get done. Any volunteers?

A group buy only works when there's one shipping destination. So, if any of you can gather up enough commitments from local compatriots to buy & split up the 250-sheet palletload of 48"x96" sheets, then you (we) can save BIG. I'd drive to eastern Indiana, western Pennsylvania, southern Michigan, or northern West Virginia to get about 75 sheets at the under-$5-per-sheet pallet price.

I think a massive effort to get Larson-Juhl to stock polyflute would be a great idea. We can get the ordinary white stuff from local sign-making distributors. However, the "archival" (translucent, un-colored, un-treated, virgin polypropylene) version is another matter. That would be about as expensive as foam center board, and L-J wouldn't have to compete with anyone other than Small Corp. for that business. Personally, I would buy it exclusively & give up the white, if I could get it at a reasonable price.

Not that Small Corp's price is too high. Au contrare (a little French there), Small Corp has a good price for cartons of cut-up sheets. Shipping is the problem.

(Sigh) Life is hard on the "bleeding edge" of framing technology, isn't it? :(
 
Larson DOES carry Coroplast... in Canada. I've asked my local LJ to carry Coroplast, and they give me that "Deer in Headlights" look. I say that we ALL need to ask for it... the same week. It just might overwhelm them!
 
Here's a vote for the Philadelphia Larson location to carry Archival Coroplast. Our grumbles got them to carry Bevel Accents so I think with enough talk maybe we can get them to carry Coroplast! The only way that they will know that we want this is if we tell 'em.

Susan Gittlen CPF
Whispering Woods Gallery
Holland PA
 
Another vote for Larson to carry Coroplast.
I bought some from Wally last year and I have been using it sparingly since then.
I didn't feel that I had the resources to split a pallet of it.
 
I imagine (I haven't asked) that the reason Vicki Schober stopped selling Coroplast is that John Ranes and I were the only ones in her delivery area that were buying it - and I had just started. When she discontinued it, John and I bought up most of her remaining inventory.

If two hundred Grumbles told their respective L-J distribution centers they would buy Coroplast from them, I'm not sure how much impact it would have. Reps would probably have to go out and actively promote the product, and I haven't seen any indication that L-J is terribly interested in promoting anything other than moulding.

But it costs nothing to ask, and I would encourage anyone who's interested to talk to their rep about it - every time you see him/her.
 
We bought coroplast from Framing Goddess. She split her supply with us.

It was great stuff and then we ran out. It was so light weight and easy to use and still did not damage the package.
 
You guys sound like stoners whose supplier got busted.
Coroplast sounds great, but I have never tried it because I have never actually seen a piece of it, and don't know where to get it. I think I will ask my LJ dealer about it. ;)
 
If you have a sign maker in or around your area, ask them if they stock it, or if they can get it for you, that's how I get mine. It's also called corex(sp)?


-Mike.
 
Just to be clear, Peavy, you're not going to want to mount anything - archival or otherwise - directly to Coroplast. It's corrugated. But, for the reasons mentioned here and elsewhere, it's the ultimate filler board. The archival stuff may be superior to acid-free fomecore, depending on who you believe. And it's a fraction of the cost.
 
As Mike says, call the local sign maker supply places or plastics companys. I get my coroplast delivered free for about $7 a sheet and can order just a few sheets at a time. 4'x8' sheets are a bit of a pain to have to cut down or store whole but the convenience of delivery is great!
 
Okay, I'll put the word to my LJ rep. Ron hooked me on the stuff right after he turned me on to wallbuddies. I beleive LJ now carries wall buddies.

I've been getting my coroplast from a distributor specializing in sign shop supplies. In addition to being good filler, it seems to help keep foam flat when hot glued. You have to use a special type of glue--Wally found it at Small Corp.
 
You can get coroplast Natural Clear from Regal plastics They quoted us $5.60 a sheet for 100 sheets or more not including shipping. They also make acrylic museum cases and sell Lexan for big jobs.

ARIZONA
COLORADO
Phoenix, AZ 85040
3210 East Roeser Road, #5
602-437-1000 • 800-829-4770 • 602-268-5433 Fax

Corporate Headquarters
Littleton, CO 80120
5265 South Rio Grande Street
303-794-9800 • 800-777-7342 • 303-794-0126 Fax

CALIFORNIA
Littleton, CO 80120
5261 South Rio Grande Street
303-794-9823 • 800-777-7342 • 303-794-0473 Fax
Cathedral City, CA 92234
68-743 Perez Road, Unit D2
760-324-7036 • 760-324-8747 Fax

NEW MEXICO
San Diego, CA 92121
8651 Production Avenue
858-549-5150 • 800-675-5150 • 858-549-5175 Fax
Albuquerque, NM 87107
3455 Princeton NE

505-884-2651 • 800-444-7342 • 505-884-7488 Fax


San Francisco, CA 94124
2250 McKinnon Avenue
415-550-1848 • 800-246-1848 • 415-824-6908 Fax

TEXAS
Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670
14709 Spring Avenue
562-404-4014 • 800-400-7342 • 562-404-2855 Fax
El Paso, TX 79935
10871 Pellicano Drive
915-593-1373 • 800-637-3425 • 915-594-0583 Fax
 
Regal Plastics
1700 Wirt Road
Houston Texas 77055
Ph: 713-957-8541

I buy small quantities @ ~$6.00/sheet for white. They cut 4x8 sheets to any size I specify free.

Great folks to work with.
 
Those are all great suggestions, but here's why we'd like L-J to distribute Coroplast:
</font>
  • I know they don't serve everyone, but I'll bet there isn't a single supplier that reaches a higher percentage of us than L-J.</font>
  • They have, at last count, 25 distribution centers and offer free delivery to most medium to large cities and quite a few smaller ones on the way.</font>
  • If they did stock it, it would probably be a variety suited to the framing industry, rather than to the sign-making industry. The latter has very different needs.</font>
  • If you are ordering moulding, supplies, glass, matboard, etc, you could have 'em throw a half-dozen 4x8 sheets on the truck instead of buying 315 sheets and filling up you basement with the stuff.</font>
Amen.
 
I am a little slow getting back to you on this. Tuesday evening I was on the phone again with about a dozen framers doing CPF recertification. It turns out that Larson Juhl stocks Coroplast in some of their Canadian distribution centers. They offer it in 32" X 40", 40" X 60", and 48" x 98" sheets. I did not find out how many sheets are in a bundle but I was under the impression that it was a reasonable quantity for a small shop to purchase.
 
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