opportunity to buy gator backer @ substantial savings

[Rocco Penny]

I'm not sure which hoops I'll have to jump through to get it, but 2 pallets of 4x8 foot damaged sheets are sitting in a guy's warehouse.
These things cost$$ to ship, and I could pick through these at a location nearby my home.
So, how hard is it to trim the edges off of messed up gator?
Or alternately, if there's no good side, or if there are cracks down the center either direction I think I'll pass, but if I could get some good 24 inchers and who knows?
maybe,
but just how hard is it to handle gator under this scenario?
I thank you for any thoughts and experience.
Rocco

[bill t.]

I cut 3/16" and 1/2" Gator Foam with both a tiny #11 Xacto knife, and with a standard (sharp) utility knife.  Basically very easy to cut.  You need about 4 to 6 easy-going swipes to get through with a clean cut.  Not like regular foam core which compared to Gator is almost not there at all, but not difficult either.  The edges trim easily.  If you are using a straight edge it helps to tape it down to the Gator with some masking tape.  Go to Lowes and select a heavy, straight piece of steel "L" extrusion for making the long cuts.

Going price by the 15-sheet box is about $43 each sheet from real suppliers like Regal Piedmont.

Check for the following...

Dents in the surfaces.  For instance if you lean into Gator very hard with the palm of your hand you can leave a dent.  Forklifts and heavy things stacked on top are also very good at creating dents.

Fractures in the laminate.  If you bend or press Gator enough it will fracture.  Can happen when it's piled in on the truck.

Delamination.  Had a issue with a few Gator boards where parts of the laminate were not totally attached to the foam.  Suddenly I noticed big welts in some mounted prints.  Pretty uncommon, I think these pieces may have gotten wet outside the factory as the surface texture was a little odd looking.

Sometimes Gator has little chips of the laminate material semi-glued on top of the normal laminate.  You can easily remove those with a fingernail.  But they can mess up your print if you don't.

Would pay to look at the sheets so you can see the diffuse reflection of a light source on the surface, immediately shows up defects.

The thin cardboard boxes offer basically zero support or protection so in shipping and handling anything can happen.