A friend has rescued a street name sign from a skip. It's the street where she was born so it's quite sentimental and she now wants to display it in her house No comments please - I tried and got shot down so just go along with it!
The letters are red and black on a white background and are faded. Any ideas what cleaner/solvent I could use to brighten up the colours?

Pete

petek wrote:
The letters are red and black on a white background and are faded. Any
ideas what cleaner/solvent I could use to brighten up the colours?

If they're actually *faded* then you're not going to make them any
stronger by cleaning, you'll just make the background whiter/cleaner
which will probably enhance things somewhat.

I think I'd just start with simple soap and water or a proprietary
product for washing household surfaces.

--
Chris Green
·

On Thursday, 27 August 2020 23:34:50 UTC+1, petek wrote:
A friend has rescued a street name sign from a skip.
The letters are red and black on a white background
and are faded. Any ideas what cleaner/solvent I could
use to brighten up the colours?

Very carefully after cleaning, T-cut?

Owain

On 28/08/2020 10:19, wrote:
On Thursday, 27 August 2020 23:34:50 UTC+1, petek wrote:
A friend has rescued a street name sign from a skip.
The letters are red and black on a white background
and are faded. Any ideas what cleaner/solvent I could
use to brighten up the colours?

Very carefully after cleaning, T-cut?

Owain


Agreed. But I think the usual way of tarting them up is repainting.

newshound wrote:
On 28/08/2020 10:19, wrote:
On Thursday, 27 August 2020 23:34:50 UTC+1, petek wrote:
A friend has rescued a street name sign from a skip.
The letters are red and black on a white background
and are faded. Any ideas what cleaner/solvent I could
use to brighten up the colours?

Very carefully after cleaning, T-cut?

Agreed. But I think the usual way of tarting them up is repainting.

Depends whether we're talking cast iron, flat painted, printed plastic,
reflective...

Theo

On 28/08/2020 12:10, Theo wrote:
newshound wrote:
On 28/08/2020 10:19, wrote:
On Thursday, 27 August 2020 23:34:50 UTC+1, petek wrote:
A friend has rescued a street name sign from a skip.
The letters are red and black on a white background
and are faded. Any ideas what cleaner/solvent I could
use to brighten up the colours?

Very carefully after cleaning, T-cut?

Agreed. But I think the usual way of tarting them up is repainting.

Depends whether we're talking cast iron, flat painted, printed plastic,
reflective...

Theo

Given the sentimental interest it's probably 1, less likely 2

What is the sign made of, and is it one of those where the letters are
raised in the material or just on the surface of a piece or metal or
plastic.
Brian

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Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"petek" wrote in message
...
A friend has rescued a street name sign from a skip. It's the street where
she was born so it's quite sentimental and she now wants to display it in
her house No comments please - I tried and got shot down so just go along
with it!
The letters are red and black on a white background and are faded. Any
ideas what cleaner/solvent I could use to brighten up the colours?

Pete

On 27/08/2020 23:34, petek wrote:
A friend has rescued a street name sign from a skip. It's the street where she was born so it's quite sentimental and she now wants to display it in her house No comments please - I tried and got shot down so just go along with it!
The letters are red and black on a white background and are faded. Any ideas what cleaner/solvent I could use to brighten up the colours?

Pete


Red Light Close ?

On Thursday, August 27, 2020 at 11:34:50 PM UTC+1, petek wrote:
A friend has rescued a street name sign from a skip. It's the street where she was born so it's quite sentimental and she now wants to display it in her house No comments please - I tried and got shot down so just go along with it!
The letters are red and black on a white background and are faded. Any ideas what cleaner/solvent I could use to brighten up the colours?

Pete
Letters are painted (stencilled I think) on 2.5mm thick white plastic. I've just tried some ordinary household cream cleaner (Tesco's!) and lightly rubbed with fine wire wool. it's improved a lot so think I'll leave it at that and quit while I'm winning. Thanks for suggestions.

Pete

On Friday, 28 August 2020 14:57:44 UTC+1, petek wrote:
On Thursday, August 27, 2020 at 11:34:50 PM UTC+1, petek wrote:

A friend has rescued a street name sign from a skip. It's the street where she was born so it's quite sentimental and she now wants to display it in her house No comments please - I tried and got shot down so just go along with it!
The letters are red and black on a white background and are faded. Any ideas what cleaner/solvent I could use to brighten up the colours?

Pete
Letters are painted (stencilled I think) on 2.5mm thick white plastic. I've just tried some ordinary household cream cleaner (Tesco's!) and lightly rubbed with fine wire wool. it's improved a lot so think I'll leave it at that and quit while I'm winning. Thanks for suggestions.

Pete

you can get car detailing products that restore paint colour & shine on paint & GRP. The ones that do both in one shot aren't as good but they're still pretty good. I wouldn't use wire wool myself.


NT