Wood for outdoor signs???

Any suggestion for what to use for wooden signs with names and the like routed into them?

I use ROak for most of my indoor projects, any thoughts on how it would hold up outside?

I have a decent source of ROak shorts for $2 - $2.50 bf, S3S.

I don't want to paint them, I'd prefer to stain and top coat if necessary? What finishes & topcaots would be recommended, deck stains?

I'm also considering Ipe if I can find a decent source of 2' - 3' shorts,

ThankX again all,

Ron

I did my outdoor sign with cedar rubbed down with several coats of BLO. So far, it has held up nicely through a western Pennsylvania winter.

____________________ Bill Waller New Eagle, PA

snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net

You might consider white oak. It apparently has good weathering qualities (unlike the red oak you are considering). Teak would also work well.

R> Any suggestion for what to use for wooden signs with names and the like

necessary?

Not worth a darn. White oak is a different story, though.

Other naturally rot-resistant woods include cedar, cypress, teak, ipe, redwood, and black locust. Ipe is probably about as close as you'll get to a wood that's rot-PROOF.

Routing ipe or black locust could be a bit of a challenge... :-), teak won't be exactly a walk in the park, and redwood makes one hell of a mess.

I think I'd go for cypress or white oak, myself.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

My father uses osage orange (or hedge, as he calls it) for just this purpose. He uses some sort of spar varnish over it (I think).

todd

White oak will grey out on you after a year or so.

If you need to make a lot of signs...

Used to be in the sign business, and we used a lot of redwood, for routed as well as sandblasted signs (you mask off your design and sandblast away 1/4 to 1/2" of the background, works best with a border left around the edge).

Dang. Beat me to it. Farmers here in the midwest used it for fence posts, and one guy said that one hedge apple post will wear out two holes. Also, that stuff is haaaaard. Cutting with a chainsaw will throw sparks. I've done it. I currently have all of my contacts in the arborist business on the lookout for trees.

-Phil Crow

My dad gets a regular supply of what he needs to make signs down in southern IL. Mind you, he's not looking for trees that can be turned into dimensional lumber, but something 12-15" around is fine for his sign-making. By the way, where is "here in the midwest" for you, Phil. I'm originally from central IL, but now live in the Chicago area.

todd