Every flag ships with a French cleat already installed, rated to ninety pounds. No flag we build weighs anywhere near that. The rating is not really about the flag.
A cleat is two strips of wood cut at forty-five degrees. One goes on the wall, bevel up; the other is fixed to the back of the piece, bevel down. Hang one on the other and the load pulls the flag toward the wall rather than away from it. A picture hook does the opposite: it hangs weight off a single point and levers it outward, which is how a hook pulls out of drywall.
To hang it: find a stud, set the wall half level and screw it into the stud, then drop the flag on. Level the cleat, not the flag — if the cleat is true the flag is true. Into a stud, that joint is stronger than the wall it is fixed to, which is where the ninety pounds comes from.
