What is Practical Madness? My wife, Beverly Branum-Noel
(aka Sprite) coined the term on about our third date or so when she observed my
tackling of a project the way I always do, with total absorption and full
abandon, and she declared, "You are definitely mad, but at least you are a
practical madman". That was five years ago, and I didn't scare her off
yet, she even married me.
I am a freelance carpenter located in Mandeville, Louisiana, and I made several signs over the years for family and friends. I made the two signs on the right for projects that Beverly and I have on the back burner, and comments from friends encouraged me to try "wood signs" as a new business venture. I placed an ad in the local Yellow pages just before Katrina hit (August 2005) and I have been fairly successful since. I developed several original techniques, and believe that I produce a very quality product that will last for many years.
I use Western Red Cedar for all of my projects, and create any size board I need through building up multiple layers of wood to create an engineered board that is very durable and stable.
This web site is a collection of my work, I hope that you enjoy it.
There are several ways to create lettering on wood. It can be carved in with routers, raised from the surface by routing out everything but the letters. The majority of the wood signs made today are done by sand-blasting. Computers cut out thick, peel and stick sheets of rubber. Then the wood is prepped, the backing removed and the rubber applied to the wood. The wood is then sand-blasted and everything but the lettering is textured with the existing grain of the wood by blasting away the soft grain with high pressure sand. The rubber backing is then removed, and the sign painted and delivered. There is not much elevation difference separating the surface of the letters from the textured surface of the background when using the sand-blasting method. Hand painted signs are a thing of the past and hand lettering is a dying, if not dead, art. Today, almost all lettering is vinyl, cut out by computers, and the applied to a plastic board, door, or whatever. Although I've worked with vinyl building materials in the past, as my awareness grew as to the environmental ramifications of both producing and disposing of man-made materials, I'm back to wood and will never go back. And although computers and machines are great for mass production, I prefer the artistry of creating custom-designed signs, which are handcrafted every step of the way.
As handcrafting wood signs is an all but lost art, I had to develop my own techniques. I have developed several methods to create my signs. The simplest is to simply free hand
route the lettering into the wood about 1/4", using no jigs or templates, just
hand to eye coordination. The next, more difficult, level is to route the
lettering in relief, projecting above the rest of the wood about 1/4".
With this method, the remaining background is then textured using Dremmel tools
to highlight the existing 
grain. The result is very similar to the sand
blasted look, but with a lot more definition to the letters and vertical sides
on them, something not attainable with sandblasting.Or, this art of wood signs
can be taken to the next level, where letters and characters are cut out
individually, shaped and carved, then nailed and glued to the surface of the
wood, and the remainder of the surface is textured. This gives about 5/8"
elevation to the letters, and a lot more freedom to shape and carve the letters
to give them more personality than a square edged letter. This creates a
very interesting sign with a lot of character. The extra thickness of the
lettering creates shadows that change during the day and adds attention-grabbing
effects. After all, isn't that what a sign is supposed to do? Get
attention?
The next question in the production of a sign is the material to be used. Some sign makers use clear straight grain Red Wood. However,
this is VERY expensive, getting harder to find every day, and these single-layered boards are susceptible to cracking. Some sign makers have gone to high density foam boards (not that much cheaper than Red Wood), and they achieve the wood look by sandblasting through wire screens. However, I believe this foam material is too light for use in signs, it can warp, and the byproducts created during the production of these chemical boards are not very nice for the environment. I have found the best results with Western Red Cedar. It is very insect and rot resistant, and I have developed a technique where I can create any size board I
need. I use 5/8" thick stock 6" wide, and through a process of careful board selection (grain is critical), edge jointing , a lot of glue, and a multitude of clamps, I create a very stable sheet of any thickness and size. By orienting the grain in alternating directions (as plywood is made), I create a very stable piece of wood, engineered to minimize warping and cracking.
The soft grains of the Red Cedar also allow for expansion and contraction and the hard grains give it strength. This process takes a lot of patience and careful planning, but the results are well worth it.