Bill,
I just ordered 6 sheets to try. 6 - 3/16" and 6 - 1/2" to use for the bigger jobs.
I have a cabinetry business with all the large saws so cutting up is not a problem.
What about the hardboard? It is cheap and I can pick it up at my plywood distributor. What about gluing canvas to that stuff. It is more paper then wood but I am thinking about wood movement here. Do not want to have expansion and contraction problems. Any experience with this stuff.
I'm sure Gator will saw nicely, but you can easily cut it with an Xacto knife or utility knife. 4 or 5 swipes with a small Xacto #11 blade, getting through the canvas layer is actually the hardest part. I prefer the large size #2 Xacto knife with the 1/2" diameter tube, with a #2 blade. I use a heavy, hand-picked piece of right angle iron as a straight edge for cutting the bigger pieces. Gator is not really all that tough, it's just that it is has this uncanny ability to stay flat and the surface will not dent from trivial impacts. BTW you have to be careful, Gator can develop razor sharp edges if you partially cut it and then snap the last little bit.
I have looked at hardboard, have no idea what it would do over time. It looks poorly sealed somehow, like whatever was holding it together is likely to migrate but who really knows. Melamine laminated MDF and particle board are also possibilities, museums build displays out of that stuff with graphics mounted with solvent based adhesives like contact cements. These are all really heavy materials that would require heavy duty frame hanging techniques for anything of size.
Have had no dimensional problems with Gator or Masonite. Glued canvas shrinks on the Gator about 1/32" per 3 or 4 feet compared to its unglued size.
