Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Touch it up or leave it alone

I have had this sign and ring for 20 plus years that came from a local station in town. As you can see the kids in the small town had a blast shooting it with some big loads, LOL.
What porcelain that is left is in great shape with good gloss so I tinted some colors at work and made some touch up paint to touch it up as I'm debating to finally hang it up or bring it to Iowa Gas. But every time I think about doing it, I have second thoughts so I'm going to leave it up to Old-Gas to decide to leave it alone or touch it up.

TOUCH IT UP OR LEAVE ALONE single choice
	LEAVE IT AS IS
	TOUCH UP THE BAD SPOTS
	IT REALLY DOESNT MATTER EITHER WAY
Votes accepted starting: Sun Jun 12 2016 07:30 PM You must vote before you can view the results of this poll.

that sign is not a good candidate for touch up as it needs too much- when touching up colors, colors have too be dead on or you make it look worse .. ...

Ok, the answer depends on if you are going to keep it for yourself or sell it. If you are going to sell it, don't touch it up so the next person can decide what they want to do.

If you are going to keep it and you would like it to look better touch it up. If you do a great job (and make sure you list it as touched up, or restored if you decide to sell it much later), you will enjoy looking at a nicer sign in the meantime.

(and I am the one that picked 'doesn't matter either way' as there wasn't the 'depends' choice...lol)

I am one of the 11% I have signs of lesser value that I have touched up. They are better to look at, and I only fill the chips with paint. That way If I sell a sign and the buyer can use paint stripper and remove the repair with no damage to the sign. If you enjoy doing the work, do maybe one side, I do the worst side, and hang it with the repaired side out. It depends a lot on if you are keeping it and want to look at a shot-up sign for years, or leave it alone for the buyer to decide, if you are going to sell it. Ed. It also depends on if you can do a nice job of touching-up! LOL.

Paint stripper removes touch up. To me it doesn't matter either way

if you touch it up, you have to nail the colors. i completely agree with Randy, if you dont get it perfect, it only makes it worse

Mike,

How about this new source for restoration?

http://oldgas.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=657708#Post657708

Hen

What's being discussed is "touchup" and not restoration. My definition of touchup is when you replace only the coloring lost at the damage sites and nothing else. The damage still exists and is clearly visible.
I have a touched up sign that I bought a few years back and I think it would look pretty ratty if it wasn't touched up. Its a very rare sign and I like how it looks touched up, but if it had been restored, I would have passed on it.

OK, my apologies ...The thread is about: TOUCH UP!

But how can one do a touch up work with all the "Bullet-holes"?

IMO, this sign is candidate for:

1- Leave it AS IS.
2- Full restoration

Hen

I would restore one side. It would cost a fraction of what buying a mint one would be. Face it, it's "shot to hell" as is, so really you can do as you please and your not going to affect the value of the sign. Most people like to look at a sign with little to no damage and restoration work is always removable. So I say your O.K. either way.

Hen, on Bullet Holes, I put a piece of tape over the hole on the back. Lay the sign down flat and fill the hole with Epoxy. Remove the tape and it is smooth. The other side you can sand and paint. No welding necessary. Ed.

Thanks for the heads up, Ed!

This all depends on the experience and expertise of who is going to do the touch up. This sign really is a good candidate for touch up, however, this doesn't mean dabbing some green and orange paint into the chipped spots and being done. You'll wind up with a bad touch up.
I'll take issue with what Tom R said: "you can do as you please and your not going to affect the value of the sign." A bad touch up will devalue that sign more than no touch up.
If you are keeping the sign, give the touch up a try on a couple spots and see how it goes.
If you hang it up as is, every time you look at it, you'll think that sign needs help. Do a satisfactory touch up on it and you'll be glad it's on your wall.
A sign touch up does not have to be fool proof. It is meant to make that addition to your collection a bonus for you.