Cedar Sandblast Stencil Alternatives

[leonsignsltd]

Hello, We have been using Anchor 117 for sandblasting our cedar signs for at least the past 12 years. About 3 years ago we started running into problems with the stencil pulling up paint and wood after blasting.
Our usual process is Paint > Stencil > Blast > paint/stain background > remove stencil. Now we are having to sand down the lettering then paint because of the damage from the stencil. Same thing happens if we Stencil directly to bare wood instead of paint.
Having to sand down the letters and paint after is taking 2-3 times the labour. It doesn't matter if we leave the paint to gas off for 2 days or 2 weeks - same thing happens.

Is anyone else having these issues with Anchor 117 on cedar signs? Is anyone using a good alternative for the stencil?

Thanks

 

[Gino]

I still have some 117, but rarely use it anymore. Seldom we had your problems, but when we did, it was when we were using clear-heart vertical grain redwood. Cedar rarely ever lifted. We sealed the wood first and let dry for a few days to a week. Then, primed it. Let that dry a day or so. Top coat, sand, tack and recoat a day later. Let that dry for a 4 or 5 days to a week. Then sandblasted. Let that sit and cool off. Slowly peel and sometimes used some extra heat to get it to let go. Some small areas would lift, but were fixed in no time at all. Most of our signs were in the neighborhood of 80 or 90 sq ft. Nothing too intricate or small either. Cedar was no problem whatsoever. These days, most everything is carved by CNC. No rubber needed. Just paper masking sometimes.