Bringing old signs back to life

[joe]

Those were furn times without a computer. It was a simple and fast process to make a sandblasted sign. After the glue-up and application of sandblast mask we would project the our image, using the overhead projectord and off we went for the sandblasting. I can tell by your photo's the person blasting these signs didn't have a large enough compressor. That's evident by the shallow blast. With 185CFM air supply the "latter Wood" is removed along with the hard wood grain. I always go down a 1/2" or more. It makes painting the letters with a roller much easier.

Although we rely on the router for out woodgrain, on PVC, it doesn't look nearly as good.

[GeneMpls]

Dave, partnership is a slippery slope for sure. I was in a 3 way partnership in an autobody shop (my specialty was restoring 63- 67 Corvettes) and after 20 years we were all in partnership with different people than we were when we started. It is tough to balance expectations and ambition- especially as I am 70 and my daughter is almost 50 and our new person is 30. He is hungry, which we need, and I am not (retired 7 years and still work 7 days a week- but I am well situated) and my daughter is in between.

This young man came from a signshop that we did a lot of business with (which folded) first the ex-owner worked for us for a couple years in the summer and when he graduated legal school he recommended his ex employee- who then worked for us part time while he completed graphic design school. So he is very well suited for the job- but what is just as important- he is very smart and a very nice young man. He actually likes to learn from me and another old phart employee (who used to paint Corvettes for me 35 years ago) who is very talented in any artistic pursuit.

He is so talented that I felt I had to keep him here if I would ever be able to ease up my workload so I can do more of what I want to do (while being here to help out) - so he got a very favorable deal. He gets a % of the company stock every year and full partnership pay and benefits. Like my t-shirt at my 70th birthday party said ' I plan to live forever... so far, so good.

Sorry to hear of your troubles, and I can sympathize with working alone being little fun. And enjoying every day is the most important thing.

[Alex Naumenko]

Dave sorry to hear what happened with you. My lawyer told me once "partnership it's only one ship which does not sail well. "
Despite that I am 50% partner in my sign business. Make sure there is no "other way" for you to run your business before you agree.
If they can supply enough work for you just give them very good wholesale price and keep friendly relationship.
And if you are really want to cross that bridge hire a lawyer to help you with partnership agreement.

[joe]

Dave,

Congratulations on the excellent job you did. I know this is an eye opener for many. Once you get with the techniques for doing this kind of work it becomes lot of fun and profitable. Work like this is one of my favorite.

For years I've enjoyed helping sign businesses like yours. This kind of work helps build lots of different skills. Not only that it also increases knowledge of materials. One techniques I've not mentioned is the addition of cleats to the sign back. This will help in keeping the sign strait and allow moisture to escape.

Please try to rotate your photo's so I don't have to stand on my head.

Joe

[David Iannone]

Thanks Joe, you are the inspiration and reason I quoted this job as a refurbish. Otherwise I would have just quoted new. I took a bit of a leap of faith yes, but what the heck I was up for a challenge. The worst that would have happened is I would have lost money on the job (which has happened at times over the years, but I still would have learned something.)

The large sign shop in town I do all their CNC and printing for drove by the first one and said he was very, very impressed.....haha. He said, "damn, looks better than new and with alum faces and backer board it will be there forever....... He and I have become good friends and business associates since we met a few years ago. He actually had the chance to quote this job but declined since this is the subdivision that I live in and he knew this was more about pride to me. He is a good guy. He also said he would have just quoted new ones.

Come to find out after the first one was installed the member of my civic association in charge of this project told me I was the only shop who quoted to refurbish them. There are 5 members on the board and he said one member specifically said "there is no way he can just glue them back together, sand and repaint and make them work. Well.....the member in charge of this went to bat for me. He explained that he had visited my shop and seen my equipment and in talking with me he felt I was a professional. He also said this man is a member of our community why would we not give him a chance, he told them "we are not sign professionals".

I have sign number 2 down right now and it has some issues. They are fixable, I have two questions for you, but will wait till I take close up photos to ask your opinions. Pictures tell more of a story sometimes than words. Oh, and I will make sure to rotate them right....hehe

Dave

[joe]

David,

The trick to make these pay off is to spend as little time as possible getting them back where they came from. Like I've said before the price is about half what a new sign would cost. Using today's materials and good techniques they can look better than new.

This forum is so un-eventful I'm sure everyone would like to see several photo's as you go along. I'm starting a new project next week for an apartment addition and will be sending a few pix in also.

[David Iannone]

Joe,
Looking forward to the pics.

This one is a mess. I have it out baking in the sun today to dry it out. Once dry I plan to secure it to the Bot and machine off 1/4" at a time until I get back to good wood, then glue, blast, sand, backer board, prime, paint, alum faces and so forth.

My question is on the glue joint. You mentioned bondo/fiberglass 50/50 mixture. Is the last photo correct stuff?

I realize I need a lot of it, and also as you mentioned as it cures I will hand sculpt the grain on the face at the right time during the curing process.

Dave

[joe]

Dave,

Can't tell what we have here. Please take a pix of the whole sign. It looks like a real mess and may not be a candidate to repair.

You can't glue rotten wood to anything. I often take the sign over to the table saw to cut away questionable wood. Although this will often leave lettering altered it's still necessary to get down to good wood. I'll see if I can't find a photo showing the repair like this. The question of the amount of time for repair as opposed to starting over is in question.

If you mix 50-50 bondo and resin, then add the catalysts, you will have about ten minutes to pour it in the cracks. This isn't a glue it's a filler. There will be a time where you can take a sharp chisel and carve away any excess. In my last workshop I did a demo on letters that needed reshaping. Works like a dream. Will find a photo or two showing the process.

[David Iannone]

Ok, I got it on the filler now, I was of course confused there.

I spent about 10 minutes doing just a quick scrape. It will need some more but I will let it continue to dry today. I definatley was overthinking the part about putting it on the bot to machine it. No need for that it looks like, just some hand tools and sander.

Unfortunately, I have no clause in there to replace new since I wanted to take on this job and learn, so I am in the process of learning. I will do whatever I have to on these. I dont mind spending whatever amount of time needed to repair this if possible. Cut it, saw it whatever. Going forward I will know what to look for thats for sure.

I think I might remember what you are talking about with filling in letters after repair. I think it was way back, but was it something like take clay or putty and roll it and shape it around area to patch letter and pour into that?

Dave

[David Iannone]

I dont know what is wrong with these pictures. I rotate them they are still wrong. I dont rotate them and they are still wrong?