Design your chess board

Accoya

Real wood that doesn't act like it. A special treatment (acetylation) stops it soaking up water, so it swells and shrinks only about a quarter as much as untreated lumber, and it comes with a 50-year above-ground guarantee. Pale and even, it's made for paint and holds it better than any wood we use.

Baltic birch ply

High-grade birch plywood with no gaps between its layers. It's what most cornhole boards are made from, except ours is carved instead of printed. Pale and even, with the layers showing as fine stripes along the edge.

Cherry

A warm reddish-brown that deepens with age, so a cherry sign looks richer in five years than the day it was made. Fine, even grain that carves crisply.

Exterior-grade birch ply

The same birch plywood made with waterproof glue, so it can take the weather without the layers coming apart. It carves just like the standard sheet and costs more.

Hard maple

Pale, hard and fine-grained. It holds the sharpest carved detail and gives the strongest contrast with a dark fill, which is the combination you'll see in most of our work.

HDU sign board

High-density urethane (HDU) is what most carved outdoor signs you've seen are actually made from. It has no grain, so it can't warp, crack or split, and there's nothing in it that can rot. We always paint it rather than give it a clear finish.

HDU, high density

The same material, twice as dense. It holds a crisper edge than any wood we carve and takes a knock without denting, so it's the one to choose for fine lettering or anything within arm's reach.

Sapele

A hardwood in the mahogany family, with a grain that shimmers as you walk past it. The practical choice for an outdoor piece that should still look warm.

Spanish cedar

Light, fragrant and truly weather-resistant. It's the wood used for boat trim and cigar humidors, and it's stable enough that an outdoor sign stays flat.

Sycamore

Pale cream with a fine speckle that catches the light. A little softer and coarser than maple, so it looks warmer and less stark. Our own studio sign is carved from it.

Thermally modified ash

Ash that's baked instead of chemically treated, using just heat and steam. That drives out what rot feeds on and turns it a deep chocolate brown all the way through. It swells and shrinks far less than ordinary ash, and a scratch doesn't show pale underneath.

Walnut

Deep chocolate brown, sometimes with purple and gray streaks. It carves cleanly, and it looks expensive because it is.

Wenge

Almost black, with a coarse, open grain. It's the dark inlay in several pieces in our gallery. Nothing else gives that deep, dark contrast against pale maple.

White oak

Our go-to wood for outdoors. The pores in its heartwood are naturally plugged, which is why it's used for watertight barrels, so it shrugs off weather that ruins other woods.

Butternut

The traditional American carving wood: soft and light, and it takes deep carving more cleanly than anything else here. Pale tan, with a grain pattern like walnut's.

Genuine mahogany

The real thing: stable, even, and it carves like almost nothing else. This is the wood that gave mahogany its reputation, and it's priced to match.

Holly

The whitest wood there is: nearly ivory, with almost no visible grain. We use it for inlay when a line should look pure white rather than just pale wood.

Iroko

An African hardwood often used in place of teak, at a fraction of the price. Golden brown, weathering to silver-gray if left unfinished.

Solid surface

The same material as many kitchen countertops: mineral filler in acrylic resin. It doesn't swell or shrink at all, doesn't soak up water, keeps its color, and takes the crispest carving of anything here. The colors depend on what leftover pieces the countertop shop has, which is why we quote it instead of listing a price.

Teak

The gold standard for outdoor wood. Its natural oils shrug off rain and rot with no finish at all, and it weathers to a silver-gray many people prefer.