About Our
Outdoor Signs:
We offer two varieties of outdoor signs,
natural wood and painted Extira (exterior grade MDF).
The
standard natural wood options that we offer are Mahogany and
Cypress.
We have two options for
natural wood signs, cuts painted black and finished with spar
urethane and, what we like to call cut and ship for those people who
want to finish it themselves, the cuts will be unpainted and no
finish will be be applied.
Mahogany
There are many flavors of Mahogany; the lumber, in the Mahogany
family, that we use is called Sapele. Sapele contains an
interlocking grain that produces light and dark ribbon stripes
throughout the boards. Because of this tight grain, much finer
detail can be carved into it without the fear of chipping. We offer
this as an indoor sign but it will survive very well outside.
Sign sample Mahogany painted cuts
Sign sample Mahogany unpainted cuts AND unfinished
Cypress
The Cypress color tends
to be a light, yellowish brown, sapwood is nearly white and some
boards can have scattered pockets of darker wood that have been
attacked by fungi, which is sometimes called pecky cypress. The
result of the lighter colors combined with painted cuts is a sign
with great contrast. Cypress has a straight grain and medium to
coarse texture, it carves more cleanly with less chipping than
Cedar. It carves larger, bolder text (Bookman Old Style font for
example) very well, but does not do as well when it comes to fine
detail (Curlz is not a good font for Cypress). Cypress is rated as
being durable to moderately durable in regards to decay resistance.
Cypress with unpainted cuts is not an option.
Sign sample Cypress painted cuts
Painted Extira (Exterior Grade MDF)
MDF stands for medium-density fiberboard, and CMI makes an amazing
exterior grade version of it called Extira (CLICK
HERE for more information about this product). We have
signs that have been exposed to the elements year around for over 10
years and are showing no signs of deterioration. We offer two
standard options for these signs. Option 1) we paint the Extira
surface the color of your choice (black, blue, burgundy, cream, or
green) then carve your sign. The cuts are the color of the material.
Option 2) we carve your sign into the unpainted Extira then paint
all of the cuts black so the surface of the sign is the color of the
material. A third option, not listed on our site, is our "cut and
ship" option. Here we simply carve the unpainted material and ship
it to you and let you do the painting. This is our least expensive
option; please contact us if this is something in which you are
interested. The two edge options we offer are primitive and plain.
With the plain edge we do nothing, with the primitive, we use a
sander to remove the paint around the edge. The two things this
accomplishes is, it frames your sign, and it hides any imperfections
that are caused if the sign gets dropped. Probably 98% of the
painted Extira signs we sell are shipped with primitive option
option.
How To Hang
All of our signs have keyholes cut in the back so they hang flush
against a wall, but for an additional $5.00 we will attach a
decorative chain