Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion "Professional" Porc. Sign Restoration

Regarding porcelain signs, what do you consider a "professional restoration"? We have all seen this description in auctions. In my opinion, body filler and paint is just "touchup". I think the porcelain damage would have to be repaired with porcelain.

And does anyone have a name/number for someone that does porcelain repair on signs? Anyone ever had this done and cost of it?

[This message has been edited by Gary Drye (edited 03-26-2005).]

Good topic, I have often wondered about these "professional retorations" as to what it does the value of your sign? Is a original sign with some damage, worth less than a sign with professional restoration?

First, I'd like to get "professional" defined. All of us have purchased signs with chips filled in with the correctly colored paint. Some have used body filler, then painted. To me, neither reflects a "restoration" and these signs with restored "character" does not increase the value to me. I'd just as soon have the chips.

The definitions for Professional include many, including "expert in the field" or simply "engaged in by a persons receiving financial return".
A seller could pay his brother-in-law $2, a beer and a Slim Jim to dab nail polish on a sign he might call that a professional restoration. No, I would not, but he might.

I don't know if you can "re-bake" a porcelain sign? The guy that did my pump "touched up/restored?/repaired or made look better" a couple spots on one porcelain face, one was maybe the size of a dime and it's very hard to tell where.. but you can. I figure it was paint and/or filler with clear of some type.

I'm more likely to "restore" a previously touched up sign to it's more original chipped condition. It's character, HONEY!

I have worked on porcelain sign for a number of years. Most of the signs are my own but I've done several for other people and have gotten paid for it. I have never told anyone that I restore porcelain signs. I refer to them as repairs. Most of the chips are cleaned out, filled with body filler, primed and painted. [yes, I leave some small ones for a more realistic look.] I use One Shot lettering enamel which I mix to get as close of a match to the surrounding area as possible. I have gone so far as to paint on crazing marks or rust streaks to try to blend in the repair. I don't know of a process of using porcelain and baking that is used. I would think that it would be nearly impossible given the fading and crazing on old signs. Every sign I've worked on the repairs are noticeable, and I am not trying to fool anybody.
There has been a lot of discussion about this in the past and some are dead set against doing anything to a sign and some are tolerant of it. To each his own.
I will end this by saying that I have signs that have had extensive repairs to them, and some that are untouched. It depends on the condition of the sign from the start as to what should be done to it.

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ROD [Mich.]

Regarding porcelain sign repair the expert in this has been Jim Oswald. He has been doing this for over 25 years and his work is second to none. The repairs are bascially undetectable to the trained eye. Unfortunately he is retiring and no longer does repairs. I asked him who he would recommend in his 25 years of experience and he honestly could not recommend anyone. He said that because this art takes a combination of many talents; artistic, graphic, metal knowledge, love of signage, etc. Plus he said that no one starts out in their career wanting to become a porcelain sign restorer. Great guy, extremely talented. I have seen many of his restorations and he is truly an artist.

Gary,
I don't think its possible to use porcelain to restore a sign. Wouldn't the sign have to be re-fired? If that were possible I think it would be a great way to bring back the original gloss of a sign too.

I remember a guy at Iowa Gas that had a restored Indian Gas pump plate. He had before, during and after restoration pictures. He blasted or ground the rust out, used body filler, and paint. His work was very impressive. I'd say that sign looked 99.999% perfect. It was the ONLY restored sign I've ever seen that didn't look like a restored sign. The cost of restoration had to outweigh the value of the sign. He was using that sign to attract restoration business.

I'm not big on restored signs and globes. If all sign restoration was as good as what I saw on the Indian pump plate then maybe I'd be in favor of it. If a sign is in 8 condition or better it should probably be left alone. If its only a 5 or 6 then I can see why someone would touch it up. ( not restore it).
Bob

Just a quick blurb here regarding repairing with porcelain;
I remember seeing a product that Devcon has called "brushable ceramic", it was in a WW Grainger catalog. This may be worth checking into, this may be the closest compund kin to porcelain. Two things I remember, it came in white and it was very expensive. If I had a Grainger catalog handy I would be able to give more info here.
Hopefully this little bit of info may help someone.

Neal

Devcon looks like interesting stuff.
http://www.devcon.com/techinfo/128.pdf

Very expensive, and does not look like something that would be beneficial for small repairs. It seems that the product would be excellent, but they reccomend that you use the full units. Anybody have $100.00 for a chip repair?
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/searchresults.jsp?xi=xi

Thanks Thunder for the above links. There's a few things to consider that may make this product work for someone who "professionally restores" porcelain signs or has a lot of their own signs they tackle.
As with most marketing strategies, I'm sure Devcon would rather you buy and use a whole kit. That way they sell more $50.00 a pound stuff. The mix ratio by volume is 5.6:1 by volume. I'm sure we gas greeks could deal with that math. Heck, I would think a person could repair a lot of chips with 2 lbs. of this. Also keep in mind that the pot life on this is 21 minutes at 75 F.
Thanks again for the links Thunder, good luck to all!

Neal

Reading this thread has me thinking that there are a couple of my signs I would like to repair. So went to plumbing repairs on 'net. At www. surface-repair.com they have porc. repair kits less than $30.00. Might be something for those wanting to repair chips to look at.

While clicking through the auction listing for the upcoming Runyon auction I noticed a few signs with restorations to them. I am sure that these signs will bring significantly less then an original in the same condition. I will be watching them closely in a few weeks.

Scott