Is there any market for Mesquite sign blanks?

[Curtis O. Seebeck]

Let me start by saying I am not trying to sell anything here. I am just looking for information. If I decided to sell I will post it in the classified section. Is there any market for Mesquite sign or plaque blanks? I have a sawmill and do a lot with Mesquite. I also have a cabinet maker friend that just bought a laser machine and he has been buying plaque blanks. That gave me the idea of making Mesquite blanks to sell to him and possibly other laser owners. If there is interest what sizes would be best? Any other suggestions of things a laser owner would prefer for their blanks? Thanks for any and all suggestions.

[Matty McQuilkin]

I think there would me a market for lager size blanks 12" X 24" or 24" X 24"

Lager sizes would be great for photos.


Matty

[Shaddy Dedmore]

I was reading on another site where people were using cedar planks to cook fish on (smokes them a little I guess... I'm not a fish eater) Maybe some "fish shaped" planks from mesq. that could be used blank or personalized with lasers?

But I've never lasered the material, so it might not be very good for it. Some woods just don't play well. Maybe more people here have actually used it.

Shaddy

[Mike Mackenzie]

Curtis,

I would love to give this wood a try! Do you have any small samples you might be able to send to me for testing?

send me an e-mail and let me know. cemlasers@attglobal.net

I am sure that in the awards market A new different plaque would be welcomed.

If they laser and cut nice they would be even more welcomed.

There standard sizes are usually 5x7 8x10 9x12 and so on.

[Keith Outten]

Curtis,

I've never found a good source for wood plaques. Most of the plaques that the trophy and laser engraving suppliers offer are really low quality. They pay almost no attention to matching colors when glueing up plaques so they are useless to me for engraving, however they may be alright for mounting engraved plates.

I've always made my own plaques in order to provide the best quality. Sometimes when I get a large order it sure would be nice to find a reliable source for high quality plaques so I could purchase them instead of having to make my own. Like Mike I have never engraved Mesquite, how about uploading a picture of one of your engravings.

[Rodne Gold]

There is a great way to get consistent plaques with consistent grains and that is to use veneered plaques. You can use whatever you want as a base (we use supawood) and you can either have it veneered both sides or one side. We often use routed shaped edges which we finish off in black piano gloss to "frame" the plaque. The veneers engrave real well and you can use exotic types. Grain structure is not much of a problem and depending on the substrate wood , you can get various effects depending on how deep you go. For real cheapys , we use those foiled faux wood plaques the Co's like PDU supply.

[Ken Frisby]

Mesquite is great to smoke with....it is known as junk wood to wood workers. It's very dense and inconsistent in color and texture, it has almost a marble coloring of yellow, pinks and orange reds. The boards I have tried have ranged in too many colors to make them usefull for awards.

This wood is being used by some to make rustic furniture.

[Curtis O. Seebeck]

Ken,

Hate to disagree with you man but Mesquite is a great wood for woodworking and is very desireable to woodworkers. Hardly known as junk wood. I mill for my own use but just by my handle "Mesquite Man" on other forums I receive at least 1 pm per week from other woodworkers asking if I sell mesquite. In most areas good mesquite lumber is selling for upwards of $15 per board foot. I have milled and used for woodworking more mesquite than most even knew existed. I have not found the problems you discuss with inconsistent texture. It is indeed dense and the color does vary some from log to log but the grain is simply georgeous! As a matter of fact, here is a picture of a project I recently completed!

[Curtis O. Seebeck]

This is a piece of scrap mesquite I took down to my cabinet guy that has the laser just to see how well it burns. The dark streak is some spalting that was beginning when I milled it. This piece was basically thrown in my BBQ wood scrap pile.

[Keith Outten]

Curtis,

Looks good to me and engraves well enough that I would give Mesquite a try in my shop.

[Ken Frisby]

I'm not trying to argue with you.....but your pictures confirm what I originally stated. It's not something I would use for the awards industry. It may look great if your looking for the rustic cabin look.