Which type of board is best? I've got an example here of boards from Bellingham Millworks at 3/4 inch and Lowe's at 5/8 inch. Both make beautiful fences, but let's look at some of the differences. The board from Bellingham Millworks, as you can see here, let’s see if you can see this better from an angle, is much stiffer. You can see that bend in the Lowe's board. That's because of the thickness, but it's also because of the density of the wood. So if I look really close I can see there's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine growth rings in the board, versus the Lowe’s board (one, two three, four), so it’s basically twice as dense in terms of age of the wood, which is what’s giving it that strength, the Bellingham Millworks board. So, now we understand why the Bellingham Millworks board costs maybe $14-20, versus the board from Lowe’s, which may cost us between $5 and $8. Almost twice as much, but you have twice the wood density, twice the strength. So it really just depends. Both are going to work great for a fence, but if you're going for strength and beauty I would go for Millworks. If you're going for the most economical quick fence, then I would go for Lowe's. Hope this helps.