Wood is one of the oldest and most common sign materials used for business signage.
Its lasting qualities vary according to location.
Typically, wood signs in humid areas will require special preservation treatment.
Wood must, in any other environment, be specially treated or coated to begin to approach the effective outdoor life of other materials.
These treatments, cou­pled with higher timber costs, still make wooden signs a competitive choice, compared to other sign materials.
Generally, the best woods for use in sign construction are those used in exterior architectural construc­tion.
They tend to have a higher decay resistance.
Because of the price, more exotic wood specimens with pronounced grain patterns, are best for interior use as decorative wall panels.
Some exotic hardwoods used outdoors in certain environments, can last if treated on a consistent basis.
Types: Cypress: A closed-grained wood with a slightly red to yellow­ish-brown natural color, cypress is not generally available as plywood, and the maximum practical size limitations of lumber are 1 3/4-inch (4.
4-centimeter) thicknesses, 9 1/2-inch (24.
2- centimeter) widths and 16-foot (4.
9-meter) lengths.
Cypress has medium hardness and medium to high dimensional stability.
We often use it for sandblasted or carved signs.
It receives finishes well.
Because of its long-lasting characteris­tics, it is very popular in the construction industry, and is therefore in short supply, so always check on pricing and availability.
Douglas fir: A closed-grain wood with a reddish tan color, fir is available in two grains: flat and vertical.
The vertical grain is more expensive, but has better stability than the flat grain, which tends to splinter and raise or bulge up.
Consequently, vertical grain is a little harder to find.
Matching plywood is available in both grains.
The maximum practical size limitations of fir lumber are 2 3/4-inch (7-centimeter) thicknesses, 11-inch (27.
9-centi­meter > widths, and 16-foot (5-meter) lengths.
It is a soft wood with fair to good finishing characteristics and dimensional shaping or possibilities.
Mahogany: Only a few types of mahogany are suitable for ex­terior use.
African, Philippine, and Honduras are the most often used softwood mahogany.
It is reddish brown in color, open-grained, more expensive then:pines, cypress, or firs, fair finishing characteristics.
These types of wood rarely used in outdoor advertising settings Oak: White oak, plain-sawn, is a grayish-tan grained hardwood available in a wide range of grain patterns and colors.
Comparable in cost to some of the African mahoganies, it has excellent finishing characteristics for nice transparent grain effects, rather than opaque coatings, and you can generally find the same grains in matching plywood Practical size limitations are 1 5/8-inch (4.
1-centimeter) thickness.
7½-inch (19.
1-centimeters) widths, and 12-foot (3.
6-meter).
plywood sizes vary in thickness, and come in 4-foot height by 8-foot or 10-foot lengths.
Pine: All pines are inexpensive and readily available.
Pine plywood is gen­erally not available, except for Ponderosa, the most widely used pine.
All pines share the same practical size limitations: 2 3/4-inch thicknesses, 11-inch widths, and 16-foot lengths.
They also share good to excellent finishing characteristics and me­dium dimensional stability.
Red Cedar: Also known as western cedar, red cedar is a soft, closed-grain wood of light to dark red color, and has high natural decay resist­ance.
It has good finishing and dimensional stability characteristics.
Practical size limitations are 1 5/8-inch thick­nesses, 11-inch widths, and 16-foot lengths.
Cedar plywood is difficult to find, and the lumber has limited availability.
Cedar is one of the top three woods suitable for sandblasted signs.
Redwood: Redwood is available under two grades: All-Heart-wood, which is highly resistant to termites and decay, and construction grade wood, which has not been kiln dried.
All redwood is closed-grain, deep red in color, moderate to high in price, and available readily in practical size limitations of 2 3/4 x 11 inches x 20 feet.
It is a superior wood for exterior building letters.
Its tendency to weather is inconspicuous, it has minimal tendency to cup and pull nails loose, it has high-dimensional stability, and it accepts paints and coatings of the widest range.
Without benefit of special coatings, the two best woods for commercial signage are redwood and cedar.
They are the only two woods in the United States that are available in commercial quantities that are high in decay resistance and termite resist­ance.
Red cedar is also an excellent wood.
When choosing the wood to use on your next sign project We use clear all heart redwood the most.
We have signs that are over twenty years old, and with a new coat of paint should get another twenty.