Sandblast it.. That sounds like a smart-alik kind of thing to say but that is probably the most time effective way of getting it to look like that. Espaecially if you are going to stain it and you can see the grain of the wood. The color and the ridges need to match up. Most signs out here in Az. seem to be sandblasted but they never look as clean as a routed one. That's good for us. It's an easy sell. Mabey you are going for a different look though than what I'm talking about it.