Sunday, August 1, 2010

Couple signs we just finished for our clients. and little bit about the woods.

About our Woods

Western Red Cedar, Mahogany and Cypress --- Mother Nature's Choice

These woods contain natural oils that act as preservatives to help the wood resist insect attack , decay and ages gracefully and endures for many years. We us only clear vertical grain Cedar and Redwood this makes for very dimensionally stable wood that does not bleed when lettering is painted and lies flat and stays straight, which means it resists the natural tendency to crack and check as you might find in many other wood. Cedar color is a light honey to a light to medium tan.



Cypress is extremely resistant to harsh weather conditions, insects and fungus. Since Cypress wood lacks sap and doesn't bleed, it takes well to sealers, stains and paints. Its color varies in shades of light to dark honey and with some knots for a nice rustic look. If left outdoors unfinished in its natural state, the appearance of the wood will become a light pewter color over time. Cypress is lightweight, scarce of knots, medium textured, and dimensionally stable with a closed straight grain, resists splitting, warping, checking, splintering and cracking.

All of our wooden signs are shipped with a penetrating clear wood sealer applied and are ready for the outdoors. I do recommend that you periodically re-apply a good quality wood sealer to your wood sign. This will help in keeping your custom sign looking new or you can let them weather to there natural beauty.

Mahogany varies from reddish or salmon colored when freshly cut, to a deep rich red, to reddish brown as the wood matures with age. Mahogany is fine to medium texture, with uniform to interlocking grain, ranging from straight to wavy or curly. Irregularities in the grain often produce highly attractive figures. Mahogany polishes to a high luster, with excellent working and finishing characteristics. It responds well to hand and machine tools, has good nailing and screwing properties, and carves well. Mahogany is regarded by many as the world's premier wood for fine cabinetry, high-class furniture, trimming fine boats, sculpture, joinery, turnery, figured and decorative veneer, interior trim, and carving.

How our carved wood signs are made

We start by talking with you by e-mail or phone to find out what you would like the sign to look like ie size, and how the sign will be used. We then take your details and start making a design proof for your approval. Sometimes we need to make a couple changes to get the sign design Exactly the way you like it. After the full color design draft is approved we start the process of making your sign.
We first make a computer pattern and file so the router can carve the artwork and lettering. Once this is done we then hand pick the wood type and the best piece of wood to match the design of the sign. The wood is then cut and planed to the sizes needed. Now the wood is ready to be routed. Once the routing is completed we start all the hand work on your custom wood sign. We first carve the border style then hand sand the wood to remove any sharp edges. Now the wood sign is ready to be painted. We start by painting the art work first then the lettering and border. When the painting is complete, we sand the sign one more time before the wood sealer is applied. Once the paint and sealer is dry we install the brass hardware and off to shipping it goes and a tracking number is emailed to you.

Thanks, Dave and the LCI Signs Team


Carved wood sign with color detailed custom artwork design for our client.

3D Carved sign designed from the clients spec's and hand painted.

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