Welcome to The Hand Lettering Forum!
This is an interactive Bulletin Board on the topics of Sign making, design, fabrication, History, old Books and of coarse Letterheads, Keepers of the craft. The Hand Lettering Forum features links to resources, sign art history, techniques, and artists profiles. Learn more about Letterheads at https://theletterheads.com. Below you'll see Mchat has been added as a live communication portal for trial, and the Main forum Links are listed below.

New Dux and Old Rolco

Hand Lettering topics: Sign Making, Design, Fabrication, Letterheads, Sign Books.

Moderators: Ron Percell, Mike Jackson, Danny Baronian

Post Reply
Andrew Lawrence
Posts: 61
Joined: Sat Jun 29, 2013 1:06 pm

New Dux and Old Rolco

Post by Andrew Lawrence »

Just got off the phone with a tech at Dux. I had given him a call because a client of mine wanted to know how green/Leed compliant my products were (kind of a pain in the as) so I gave Dux a call. He informed me that the quick size is actually Tung Oil based and not Linseed Oil. He also informed me there were mineral Spirits, some driers (cobalt, maganese etc). He said the main difference between the slow and quick was that the slow had castor oil in it along with very very small amount of driers.

I asked him about Rolco and he didn't get into it too much but pointed to them not having enough capital to buy ingredients, labels and business infighting. The nail in the coffin was Hurricane Sandy. He had worked for Rolco so this was first hand info.

When I asked him "So is Dux size basically the same as Rolco" he laughed a bit and replied " Ha ha, Well I can say I worked there for 12 years" So there's your answer folks. It's the same stuff albeit it might be slightly modified. He also said this which was a bit more telling "Oh yeah it's good stuff, we've been making it for 60 years" ...Dux as far as I know has only been making it for less than dozen (correct me if I'm wrong), so the "We" he's talking about is Rolco obviously. He got a job at Dux a few years back after Sandy and helped them start up the gilding size lines.

That's all for now.
Lee Littlewood
Posts: 228
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2004 2:36 pm
Location: Portland, Oregon
Contact:

Re: New Dux and Old Rolco

Post by Lee Littlewood »

Blessing on you, Andrew. Now if we had someone who speaks good French and would talk to LeFranc & B. maybe we'd find out what their stuff is made of...

Tung oil for the quick size - "Well I never!" - as my grandmother would say. It is not an uncommon material, but i have never used it by itself.
Now I wonder if some of the other older quick sizes:, like "Venice Japan Size" and "Florence Japan Size" were based on tung oil.
where am i? Now, when i need me...
Andrew Lawrence
Posts: 61
Joined: Sat Jun 29, 2013 1:06 pm

Re: New Dux and Old Rolco

Post by Andrew Lawrence »

Yeah I was a bit surprised myself. He emphasized that the only difference between the fast size and the slow size was Castor Oil - and a great deal of it. It's what gives the long tack time for the slow size as opposed to a linseed oil. We did a smell test of Rolco and Dux a few years back at a Conclave and they indeed smelled different but that could have been due to new low voc mineral spirits vs old mineral spirits. It sounded like the guy was a defector after getting screwed over by Rolco following the flood. I'll have to see if I can get on the dial with LeFranc.
Post Reply