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As The Wood Chisel Carves:

Hi! as the wood chisel carves is a new feature I hope to update daily or weekly about sign making or wood working in general.

I could harp on continually about a sign person who has real woodworking experience and those that call themselves woodworkers and sign makers without any real or fundamental experience in what they do.

There is plenty of signage to be made but when you step outside and start building things that have to withstand the elements you better know what your doing or you will become an expert at failure.

Most of the good woodworkers and sign carvers I know had their start in the boat building industry, it just seems to be a natural thing. So why is this topic important to the person buying a sign? I'd be happy to tell you a thing or two about it. Number one is that while exterior plywood does have a water resistant glue it does not have the waterproof glue that marine plywood has, after all marine plywood is designed to build a boat out of and therefore it is certified not only for intermittent moisture like exterior plywood is certified for but marine plywood is certified for continuous and indeterminate immersion in salt water. (remember when boats were built of wood planks and plywood?). Marine grade plywood more than usually has more laminates than exterior plywood so marine plywood is also stronger. This extra strength can mean all the difference when you put a sign consisting of nothing but a sheet of plywood between two post and expose it to 60-70 mph winds subzero weather and rain and snow. Good marine plywood also has no voids between laminate butt joints. This is part of the reason why marine plywood is waterproof(remember we can't have a leaky boat). Marine plywood is usually made out of a better grade and cut of wood than regular ole exterior plywood. So the next time you go to get some exterior signage out of plywood and you really want it to last a long time you should ask for it to be fabricated out of marine plywood!!

Mark....