Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Shellaced signs....

Hello All,
I am in process of purchasing a progressive lines round Mobilgas sign. The sign was part of the collection of a restaurant chain that "antiqued" their signage with yellowed shellac. I was unable at the time to see the sign up close as it was 8 foot up on a wall in the corner. Obviously when the lady gets the sign down and I go to finalize the purchase I can inspect it closer, but has anyone ever had any experience/issues with the shellac staining a porcelain sign? The majority of the sign is red and white, so I wonder how the white will fare while cleaning. I think I will take a razor blade with me if the lady will let me test a spot, but if she won't I'm kind of taking a risk I guess. I know porcelain is resistant to a lot of things, but haven't run into this before.
BTW, I don't believe the sign was restored at all, just covered to make it appear antiqued.
Darin

Good Morning. I had a similar experience when I purchased a 6 ft. SIGNAL sign that had hung in a local restaurant for over 40 years. Assuming your sign is Porcelain and not painted tin, I used paint stripper. The Shellac blistered-up and was easily taken off with a plastic squeegee so as to not scratch the sign. I would suggest trying first along an edge to insure you will experience the same results. Don't forget to wear plastic gloves and not breathe the fumes. Ed.

Shellac won't stain porcelain unless the surface was already in very poor condition where the top layer of hardened glass might become exposed(even then with saturation cleaning it can be improved).

Definitely test an area, take a bottle of nail polish remover and rag and remove a small bit of the shellac. Inspect the porcelain, it should have a good gloss to it.

Thanks Ed and Paul...I will post an update soon.
Darin

Well, nevermind...the deal is off. The lady sold it out from under me, just got the email.
Thanks again anyways guys,
Darin