Real metal letters, brushed, polished, or cast.

Three ways to make a metal letter

• Flat cut. Cut from a solid sheet: aluminum from 1/8 inch up to 1 inch thick, the other metals topping out between 1/4 and 3/4 inch. A flat face and crisp edges, from letters 1/2 inch tall for a suite door up to 46 inches in one piece. Larger logos are made in sections.
• Cast. Molten aluminum or bronze poured into a mold, 4 to 64 inches tall and up to 3 inches deep, with a flat, rounded, or prismatic face (beveled to a ridge down the middle of each stroke). This is the heavy, traditional look you see in church, school, and civic lobbies.
• Fabricated. Built from sheet stainless steel or aluminum, welded or soldered into a hollow letter with sides from 3/8 inch to 6 inches deep. The presence of a thick letter without the weight of a solid one: stainless runs 2 to 48 inches tall in one piece, aluminum 3 to 60.

Pick the metal

Copper (1/8 to 3/8 inch thick, letters from 2 inches tall) and weathering steel (1/8 or 1/4 inch, left in its natural finish) are available as flat cut letters too. Cast letters come in aluminum (brushed, painted, or anodized) and bronze (brushed, polished, or oxidized). Fabricated letters come in stainless (brushed, polished, painted, or titanium coated) and aluminum (brushed, painted, or anodized), and either can carry a printed vinyl face.

Finishes, in plain English

• Brushed. A fine directional grain in the metal. It reads as metal from across the room and is the usual lobby choice.
• Polished. A mirror face. Striking, and it reflects everything around it, so it suits a clean, uncluttered wall.
• Anodized. Color built into the surface of the aluminum rather than painted on: clear, champagne, gold, light, medium, or dark bronze, or black.
• Painted. About 45 standard colors, or a custom match to your PMS number or paint color.
• Oxidized and patina. Darkened, antique, or green-blue finishes for brass and bronze, for a room that should feel established.

Polished and anodized letters have to be stud mounted.

Where metal letters earn their place

• Conference rooms and boardrooms, where a brushed or polished name on the wall sets the tone before the meeting starts.
• Lobby and reception walls, where brushed aluminum or brass on a painted wall is the classic front desk. See lobby signs.
• Church, school, and municipal lobbies, where cast aluminum or bronze matches the architecture.
• Donor and recognition walls, with names in small flat cut letters and a plaque to explain them.
• Suites, offices, and doors, with letters as small as 1/2 inch.
• Restaurants and retail, where weathering steel or copper suits a warmer, industrial room.

Mounting metal

Thin 1/8 inch letters get studs welded to the back. At 1/4 inch and thicker, the back is drilled and tapped and the studs thread in. Add spacer sleeves and the letters float off the wall with a shadow behind them; leave them off and the letters sit flush. Some letters can also hang from a rail or sit on a bottom angle bracket instead of taking a stud in every letter.

We install from a full-size pattern that marks every stud hole. Heavy pieces get the anchors and adhesive their weight calls for, and for a large or heavy sign the wall gets checked before anything is ordered, with an architect or engineer weighing in when the size calls for it.

Everything here is non-illuminated and made for interior walls. For the full lineup, including acrylic and PVC, see dimensional letters and logos, or send us your logo and the wall.