Wood Species

A wee bit of insight in to the main wood species we use for our signs ...

Here are the key differences:

  • Cedar
    • Logged in BC & milled locally
    • Great for outdoors - naturally inhibits rot and carpenter ants
    • Darkest of the natural tones once the clearcoat is applied (see above)
    • Fewer knots compared to fir. 
    • Currently some shortages of this wood type so supplies are rather limited.
  • Canadian Maple:
    • Typically sourced from Eastern Canada
    • For indoors only
    • Very tight grain and machines very accurately but is also harder on the tools. 
    • Most accurate detailing when machined
    • Lightest of tones compared to the other species
    • Knots are infrequent and colour variation is less compared to the other species.
  • Douglas Fir
    • Sourced and milled locally in BC
    • Another good choice for outdoors (provided protected with a suitable clear coat finish). 
    • Has more knots and natural "character traits" compared to the other species (indicative of a timber frame home)
    • Natural golden/orange tone which is accentuated by the clear coat finish.  Like cedar it is on the softer side.
  • Knotty Pine
    • Sourced locally in BC
    • As name suggests, this has knots
    • Lightest and least dense of all these wood species
    • Similar tone the majority of the time to the maple or birch (i.e. quite light) but does have more variation which sometimes can be closer to the fir in colour. 
    • Least predictable so provided you like the variation of such a material then great.
  • Birch Plywood
    • We use a higher quality 3/4" domestic birch veneer plywood ("domestic" in this region typically means Oregon) 
      • Has fewer voids compared to the inferior imported alternatives
      • Veneer layer is slightly thicker. 
    • Though not an inexpensive product comes in flat finished sheets so there is no need for us to plane it to a consistent thickness & flat. 
    • If you look closely the layers will be visible on the edges but they are painted over and not what you typically notice when looking face on at a sign. 
    • Similar tone to the Canadian maple at a lower cost
    • Veneer surface has the same grain pattern as maple.
    • Not solid wood so when carved there can be some colour variation as the layers of the plywood are exposed.