By Joe McKernan
Posted on Monday, August 11th, 2025
About ten years after my wife and I began making handcrafted signage, we started to notice that some of our earliest work was beginning to look pretty weathered. The gilded cove edges were often the first to wear through, and any bright reds in the hand-painted artwork tended to fade faster than other colors. Darker colors and gilding on convex surfaces held up better, but given enough time, sun, and weather, nearly every sign began to show signs of aging.
Of course, signs that were installed under an awning could still look almost new after 20 years. But we were working with Danthonia Designs in Australia, where the sun’s UV rays are exceptionally harsh. Even with the best materials, signs installed in full, direct sunlight would begin to show significant wear after about eight years.
At the time, Danthonia was one of the only companies in Australia producing handcrafted signs, so every new sign we installed added to a recognizable “portfolio” of our handcrafted work, seen by thousands of people in dozens of towns. Watching that portfolio begin to deteriorate wasn’t just disheartening. It was bad for business. That’s when I decided to start offering refurbishments.
Others in our shop preferred to focus on making new signs. That’s what we were set up to do, and our production techniques were quite efficient. But I began tracking my time and costs, and I discovered that refurbishments were not only profitable; they were easy to sell. It became my specialty, and I genuinely enjoyed the work.
Selling a refurbishment was simple: I’d take photos of a weathered sign, email them to the client along with comparison shots we had taken of the sign when it was new, and ask if they were ready to replace or refurbish. Replacement meant a new sign at the current list price. Refurbishment was offered at 50% of whatever they had paid originally. Many clients opted for the refurb, especially with my promise that it would look “almost new.”
Since refurbishments didn’t require new designs, new HDU panels, or any hand carving, the jobs were relatively quick and brought in a decent hourly income.
About 18 months ago, my wife and I left Australia and returned to New York State to care for my 96-year-old mother. Here in Chester, New York, I no longer have a state-of-the-art sign shop at my disposal, but refurbishments can still be done, even in a garage.
A typical refurbishment for a carved sign without artwork usually involves the steps listed below. Any materials mentioned below comprise the products I am using here in New York.
Two of the first signs I refurbished here were for a local park called Knapp’s View. The original had been carved into solid mahogany by a local (now retired) master signmaker who never used computers. His layout, calligraphy, and carving were all done freehand, so I had to mask his signs without a plotter.
To do this, I used thin strips of mask to outline the curved letters, then applied wider strips to edge the straight segments and fill the gaps. After the mask was in place, I sealed the edges of the mask with a “choke coat” of Modern Masters Master Clear Supreme to prevent the white paint from bleeding under it and on to the green background.
For finishing, I used Benjamin Moore Element Guard exterior acrylic paint in Essex Green, Chrome Green and Corinthian White. The greens were both “Low Luster” and the white was “Soft Gloss.”
The photos below show this masking technique, along with some before-and-after comparisons of the refurbished signage on site.
Enjoy.
Joe McKernan is a semi-retired sign maker, Bruderhof member, and a longtime contributor to SignCraft magazine. He has specialized in handcrafted signage with Danthonia Designs in NSW, Australia, for over 24 years, and currently lives in Chester, New York.
Joe McKernan is a semi-retired sign maker, Bruderhof member, and a longtime contributor to SignCraft magazine. He has specialized in handcrafted signage with Danthonia Designs in NSW, Australia, for over 24 years, and currently lives in Chester, New York.
