Signs

We are working on a few sign projects at the moment. These are not complete yet but when they are I will post the finished pieces.

Here is Juan carving a wooden sign for the San Diego Zoo proposal.

This is me working on a sign for a wine bar's tasting room.

All of our work is hand carved. And these signs are carved out of poplar wood. Poplar wood is a pretty good carving wood. Poplar is relatively soft and it keeps a sharper corner and doesn't dent as easy as basswood (which is a much easier wood to carve). Poplar paints and glues well. I wouldn't suggest it for outdoor use. Woods that are good for outdoors do to their weather resistance properties are Teak wood, Mahogany wood, or Walnut wood. Teak wood is around $25 a board foot in my area. Teak also needs special preparation due to it's oily nature it needs to be stripped of its oils with a solvent such as acetone and should be glued with a two part epoxy. But Teak has been used on boats for a very, very, very long time and it is very moisture proof. The other woods don't need any special preparation except for an exterior finish such as a lacquer or polyurethane.

Thank you,
Kenneth