Premium Craftsmanship made in the mountains of Utah by craftsmen featured on HGTV. My father and I have been making wooden wall decor as our father-son hobby. Many hours of bonding and many more hours of yelling at each other. However, I (the son) have it on good authority that I am always correct. If my dad knew how to use Etsy and read this listing, I'm SURE he'd agree. How we compare vs. the rest (and what makes our woodgrain so much better):  PREMIUM STAIN: The flag is hand-stained with a custom MinWax stain specially mixed for our flags, not painted. The stain works perfectly in conjunction with the raised grain. Be aware of painted flags that cover the wood features of your flag - the purpose of buying a wood flag is to accent those wooden features. Paint covers them.  THE UNION: The union on all of our flags is part of the whole flag. We do *not* make the stripes separate and glue the union on later . By making it all one, cohesive piece, it makes for a much sturdier flag.  THE STARS: Our stars are ALL 3D carved. Each one is routed for perfect placement and looks amazing from any angle. (There are other crafters that paint their stars using a stencil or even glue/nail on the stars that they bought from a craft store. Every time we see that, a little piece of our woodworking soul dies. You deserve better craftsmanship, ).  WOODGRAIN/STRIPES: When we make these flags, we always choose a woodgrain that has a ton of character and then we raise the grain to bring out all of its special features. We DO NOT torch the flag after it is put together (surface burn), like others – that leaves blotchy burn marks with no texture. Instead, we raise the grain prior to assembling the flag through a proprietary, handcrafted 15-step process that has taken us years to perfect (and custom machines we had to build that left us with credit card debt up to our eyeballs). It really looks amazing and you can see/feel the quality. It's also a huge pain, and I wish my father would pitch in on that part sometimes and let me rest once in a while - but I guess that would be elder abuse. WOODGRAIN PATTERN: There are two types of flags that we offer with this listing. A straight grain flag and a character grain flag (technically quartersawn and plainsawn but I'm not here to bore you with woodworking terminology). Please select the correct one accordingly. APPROX SIZES: XL (47" x 25") L (36" x 19.5") M (30" x 16.5") S (24" x 12")  THE BACKING: The wood staves are attached with backing cleats. We do NOT use plywood as the backing on our flags. Plywood will soak up moisture and warp over time and ruin your flag, it also adds an unnecessary amount of bulk/weight. Our wooden cleats are the best option. In theory, your wall should fall apart before our flag does. Hopefully your wall doesn’t fall apart anyway because that would be absurd.  HANGING: The hanging hardware comes attached. We use a heavy pound test wire between the two center cleats that will allow you to easily center the piece on a fastener.  FINISHES: We offer an indoor satin or gloss finish and an outdoor polymer coating for those looking to display this outdoors. The outdoor coating is hardly noticable whereas the indoor coatings are topical. All finishes will darken the complexion slightly; Outdoor especially (as we use an oil base solvent for outdoor coatings - which will bring out the sapwood complexities in the carved stars - often at different hues). PLEASE NOTE: All wood is hygroscopic in that it absorbs and emits moisture. These are softwood flags so they are not *meant* for the outdoors but with the right care they can last a good while before Mother Nature wins the ultimate battle. We would advise placing them in a covered area like a porch. ENGRAVING: We are once again offering our professional router carved engraving services. WE DO NOT LASER ENGRAVE the wood. Laser engraving is shallow and the heat of the laser will burn the wood. Router carving is the cleanest, deepest, and the best way to have a great looking custom flag. We engrave on the bottom right, or center 2nd or 3rd to last red stripe. Please choose only one. The engraving fee is $40 and we will send you a separate invoice if you indicate that you would like an engraving. ***Please note that each flag will have its own character; knots, grain patterns, etc. and measurements may fluctuate within ½” To recap: • 3D Carved Stars (No stencils/craft store stars used) • Stained, not painted • 15-step proprietary method to burn and raise grain – not simply surface burn it, unevenly, with a torch. • No separate union. Our flag stripes run right into the union as one piece. • Backed with cleats – not bulky, plywood • Higher quality of lumber (we are the only stewards of this cut of lumber in from this select forest in the United States - we do NOT use pine). • Router carved and NOT laser engraved. To recap the special add-ons: • Indoor satin • Indoor gloss • Outdoor Additionally, • We ship all of our flags in 100% recyclable material • Our shop is veteran-owned and every purchase supports the White Heart Foundation who supports veteran mental health • We love you