Custom Wood Plaques & Seals

Engraved Western Red Cedar Natural
product 27

3D Maple Great Seal Center
product 3

3D Stained Cedar
product 26

3D Carved African Mahogony
product 30

2.5D Cedar
product 33

This picture shows the wide variety of styles of our dimensional wood wall plaques for Federal, State and city governments, the military, businesses, universities and clubs.
Some plaques are carved in 3-D bas-relief, others in 2.5-D relief.
Shown are African Mahogany, Cedar, Maple, Redwood, and 24K gold-leaf gilded Mahogany plaques.

We design and fabricate thousands of beautiful custom 3-D and 2.5-D natural wood plaques each year for military units, police & sheriffs, universities, fraternities & sororities, clubs, corporations, government agencies, and homes.
Each plaque is custom crafted by our experienced and skilled wood craftsmen and artisans.
We use several different species of wood and staining techniques to make these impressive and authentic wood plaques, which will retain their beauty over many decades.
We also make wood signs that utilize other add-on features, such as 24K gold-leaf, aluminum-cladding, carved 3-D HDU appliques, digitally-printed colored vinyl giclee photos, and engraved brass plates.
We combine our materials and technologies to make you a plaque that is beautiful yet fits within your budget. All our wood plaques are moisture-resistant, non-fading, graffiti-resistant and long-lasting, and can be placed outdoors as well as indoors.
We spray every indoor and outdoor plaque with two coats of UV and graffiti-resistant Matthews polyurethane acrylic clear in our paint spray booth. You have a choice of satin or semi-gloss clear-coats.


Brass Tree Logo and Brass Plates	3D Bas-Relief Gold Leaf Whale Mahogony Board	Dark Stained American Cherry Wood

African Mahogany
		African Mahogany is our favorite hardwood for carving rich-looking, elegant plaques. It carves very well, has uniform color, and will last forever. We only use heartwood, which is pale reddish-brown, The wood is durable and has a fine fairly regular grain; it is easy to work and season but is difficult to impregnate. It takes time to carve, and does not absorb a stain well because of its high density. It usually has to be stained at least 3 times. The wood commands a very high price on the market, and is used above all woods for high-quality cabinet work, furniture and expensive interior finishing. Our best wood plaques are made from African Mahogany. They also look great when stained dark with V-carved text gilded with 24K gold leaf. The colors vary on the Mahogany plaques shown. The lighter colored ones are not stained, only clear coated. The darker ones are stained. You have a choice of any of the 24 Minwax stain colors, but we usually use Red Mahogany (for a reddish color) or Walnut (for a darker plaque).
3D Bas-Relief Mahogany Unstained	3D Bas-Relief Mahogany Stained

California Redwood Plaques
		In our opinion, no other softwood equals Redwood in natural beauty and richness, dimensional stability and low maintenance. We use only clear all-heart kiln-dried Redwood, with vertical grain and no knots. Color matching between wood strips is excellent. Being a softwood, like Cedar, it is not ideal for small detailed 3-D plaques, but it is an excellent choice for larger 2-D and engraved plaques and signs. The flying egret plaque in the lower left corner of the picture at the top of this page is made of California Redwood. Our California Redwood comes from renewable forest farms. We do not use any Redwood from first-growth forests. For every Redwood plaque we sell, we donate to Arbor Day Foundation funds to plant one tree.
3D Bas-Relief CA Redwood with Mahogany Stained	3D Bas-Relief Western Redwood

Western Red Cedar Plaques
		We make most of our wood signs, and many of our wood plaques, from Western Red Cedar. Western Red Cedar is known for its extremely fine and even grain and its flexibility and strength in proportion to its weight. We use only prime grade knot-free kiln-dried Western Red Cedar which is grown in Canada. Its rich coloring, ranges from a light milky straw color in the sapwood to a chocolate in the heartwood. We try to color match the strips during the signboard fabrication, if the plaque is left its natural color , otherwise we have to stain the plaque to reduce any color striping that arises from using different colored strips. This striping gives it a rustic look which many clients prefer, rather than a uniform color look. Of course, if the plaque is painted, this is not an issue, but then HDU should be used instead because it is less expensive and carves better. Cedar is best suited for larger engraved , 2-D and 2.5-D carved plaques where a "real wood" or rustic look is desired, and it does have beautiful variegated colors for these type of plaques. Cedar is not the best choice for intricately carved 3-D small plaques, because it carves fairly roughly due to its wood grain and has to be extensively hand-sanded. Hardwoods like Mahogany or Maple are a better choice.
Engraved and Painted Cedar	Engraved and Stained Cedar

Red & White Oak
		We make plaques from Red and White Oak. Red Oak is America's most popular choice for wood floors and serves as the industry benchmark when rating hardness among species. For outside plaques exposed to the weather, white oak is more suitable because it is impervious to water or moisture because of its tighter grain structure. Red oak features a reddish tan color and has a distinctive glow that creates a warm feeling. The quintessential American hardwood, oak has a classic look and excellent strength properties. Oak has a proud heritage dating back several thousand years, since houses, barns and ships were often constructed using oak beams. Red and white oak is best suited for large 2,5-D and engraved plaques, although it does carve cleanly because it is a hard wood. Red oak is shown on the right side of Fig 1 and 2 above. It is usually stained with a "Golden Oak" MinWax stain, to bring out its interesting and beautiful grain patterns. It stains very well.
3d Ba-Relied Stained Red Oak	Carved Engraved Red Oak

Carved Engraved Oak

Wood Finishes

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They do not infer any endorsement by an agency or organization listed or displayed.