Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion How to do “touch up” on porcelain sign?

I have collected for the last 15 years. My wife says the garage is about to blow because every inch is covered in beautiful porcelain signs...some pristine and others rough. Now here is my question. Without having it done professionally (I still don’t know where these people are!), is there a more simple way to “touch up” some of the rougher ones yourself?

For instance...some years ago I bought this Gulf Pump plate. If you look closely you can see the “touch up”. How does one do this? If anyone can give me a SIMPLE step by step answer...I am all ears.
Thanks,
Steve

Let me say I'm buy no means a body man ,but the proper way to do it is.
1 carry your sign to a paint supplier and have the colors scaned to mix codes for paint.
2 grind out missing spots down to metal'
3 fill spots to bring them back up level with body filler.
4 then have someone better than I spot the fixed places back in with paint.
Once you do this you devalue the sign to the purist collector.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (no clear coat)

added my 2¢ behind Loyd's quote .. ...

Loyd...I got your PM before I had read this thread. You have answered my question about “process” and both you and Randy have given me something to think about concerning value.
Much obliged!
Steve

Its all about having collected something for your wall and displaying it just "AS FOUND" with all of its damage intact because that is part of the history, or story of this particular piece. Some collectors find this disagreeable to their desires of having a "PERFECT" piece of advertising memorabilia to display and instead of biding their time and searching for the elusive "PERFECT' piece to display, they choose to erase the marks of time from the piece that they do have and use it as the example that they are looking for. In doing so, they have created a "FALSE" example of that piece and virtually destroyed the collector value of that piece and lowered it to the level of a reproduction piece. I feel as many in the hobby do, and if you feel the need for a perfect example of a certain piece and don't have the time or money to actually search out that piece, then you should just use reproduction pieces in your display instead of destroying the history behind a damaged piece and removing it from the group of collectible signs that others are perfectly satisfied with. Like Randy said, the new paint and body putty can be removed, but any grinding and porcelain removal that was done to facilitate this process can never be undone! Please enjoy these artifacts with all of their defects and problems and leave them intact.
The forgoing statement was simply the feelings of one old collector and by no means was meant to damage any ones feelings or pride in their collection! Please accept it as that!

no body putty, grinding or porcelain removal or clear coat - can be put back with a little lacquer thinner - your not defacing it where the next caretaker can make a decision on the before look or after look- this one not perfect but too the human eye (not camera) looks much better..
I agree with Kevin with altering a sign with body putty, grinding clear coating the sign, it isn't original no more & too me is the same as a repo & cannot be put back..
my 2¢ but may be only worth 1. .. ...