Go Little Giants!

December 18, 2015 By Mark Hackley

Augusta Sign Company Makes Spirited Banner for Waynesboro High School Cross Country State Finals Meet in NOVA

The Waynesboro Little Giants men’s track team advanced to the Virginia State Finals earlier last month and Augusta Sign Company provided a rally call with a banner touting the school’s colors and official logo.

Even though WHS did not win the finals, they gave it their best shot and their families and fellow townspeople were proud.

I received a very nice letter from a grandparent, complete with cool pictures from the event; one of which featured my 2′ X 10′ hand-painted banner. I learned the art of hand painting signs back in 1980 when I was an apprentice signpainter at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda.

After my initial training and practice there I was transferred to Andrews Air Force base where I served as a journeyman sign painter for 3 years, painting signs, insignias, billboards, water towers, helipads, vehicles, airplanes, streets, parking garages, charts and displays, (basically just about anything!!) all over the large base. It was fun to apply my God-given and self-developed talent to help out a new emerging talented generation for Waynesboro and Augusta County!

Go Little Giants!!!

Mark Hackley is the owner of Augusta Sign Company

Can Sandcarved Signage be Implemented into Wayfinding Systems?

December 1, 2015 By Mark Hackley

Can Sandcarved Signage be Successfully Implemented into Wayfinding Systems?

Can sandcarved signage be successfully implemented into wayfinding systems?

I recently got a call from the new dentist in Waynesboro, Virginia, Dr. William Potter, in need of a new sign for his office. He was taking the place of Dr. Michael Kivlighan who along with his real estate partners had contracted my previous company, Tree Street Signs, to make all the signage for his professional office park some 20 years ago. Now they had to hire a sign company that could closely match the existing signage system.

The unique thing about this particular professional center is the signage. It’s all made of sandblasted cedar, stained dark green with raised white graphics denoting the name of each tenant. The signs are single-sided and are attached to the brick walls facing the main road. The main office park sign has been there probably since the complex was built, and I had rehabbed it 20 years ago by removing the routed metal letters, applying a stucco background over the bare brick, and then repainting the letters in the same color green as the cedar signage to make everything mesh.

So does sandcarved signage make sense for wayfinding systems? I think so.

Large Promotional Sign Made for Omni Homestead Resort Golf Event

November 23, 2015 By Mark Hackley

Large Promotional Sign Made for Homestead Resort Golf Event

“Your job must be a lot of fun but also frustrating with customers sharing crazy ideas like mine,” joked Lori Hicks, Director of Regional Accounts at the Omni Homestead Resort in Bath County, Virginia. She was explaining that she needed to order a big, tall full-color portrait of Thomas Jefferson to erect in the fairway of their world-famous golf course for an upcoming tournament.

They were hosting an Omni Brand Golf tournament at The Homestead the weekend of October 23^rd. Each of the resort properties sponsors a hole contest for their top customers. Their idea was a wild and crazy one called “Tip Tom”. Their vision was to provide a huge Thomas Jefferson portrait sign placed in the middle of the fairway for customers to hit with golf balls to win a prize which ties in with the resort’s celebrating 250 years as America’s First Resort.

The project was a lot of fun and a little challenging. The portrait would need to be digitally printed. Since it was only needed for a one day event, the materials didn’t have to last that long, yet they had to be durable enough to last a day out in the mountains of Virginia in the fall, potentially facing strong winds, and possibly rain. The customer suggested using 2″ thick foam for the body of the sign, and a tin for the skin so the golfers would know when they hit it from the ping. So that’s what I did. The challenge was to figure out how to assemble the thin metal skin onto the Styrofoam core. After some thought, I fabricated several horizontal cross beams for the back out of 1 X 4 pine boards that were used to “clamp” it all together using carriage bolts with washers on both ends. For the material that the portrait was printed on, I picked 13 ounce Scrim Vinyl and cemented it to the tin with contact cement. It worked just fine for the one day event and cost less than printing the image on regular adhesive-backed vinyl material.

The event was a success, and even Tom himself showed up! Thanks to the Omni Homestead Resort for the neat project!

Mark Hackley is the owner of Augusta Sign Company, former founder of Tree Street Signs of Crimora, VA and former sales executive with Holiday Signs of Chester, VA.

You can contact him at: mark@augustasigncompany.com; 540-943-9818

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How Long Do Cedar Signs Last?

November 10, 2015 By Mark Hackley

How Long Do Cedar Signs Last?

Sandblasting, carving and routing are three ways that cedar wood can be fabricated into rugged and durable exterior signage for businesses, churches and other not-for-profits. Cedar and a few other American softwoods and exotic woods like redwood and mahogany, are the best choices for outdoor wood signs. Painted aluminum signs are also a great choice for outdoor signs if your don’t mind the commercial look and feel, but for neat three-dimensional images that are the best for downtown areas and certain industry-specific applications like retirement centers, parks and recreation sites, churches, schools, and medical offices, I believe finished wood signs are the way to go!

LIFETIME LINKED TO CONSTRUCTION METHODS

So how long should cedar signs last? First let’s talk about sign fabrication methods so you are comparing apples to apples when considering a sign’s lifetime. At Augusta Sign Company we use 1 1/2″ to 2″ thick cedar boards laminated edge-to edge. Each board is from 3″ to 7″ wide, no wider, since cupping can be a concern for wider boards. When I build a sign panel I use West System Epoxy, a durable and tested adhesive used in the ship building industry for years, so it can be trusted if correctly applied. Make sure that when the boards are being laminated that the clamping pressure is just right…too much pressure can squeeze the glue out of the joints, weakening the sign panel structure.

Whether the letters are carved or blasted into the panel, or if the background is gouged out leaving raised graphics, has no real bearing on longevity, except that you probably should pay a little attention to thin details in letter characters, such as in script or serif fonts, since sometimes these can break off over time. One big consideration is the final finish. Sandblasted backgrounds should always be stained versus painted. Stains do not peel over time and they bring out the character of the interesting wood grains in the sign. I recommend using a stain consisting of 50% Bulletin Color and 50% Penetrol for backgrounds. Any flat lettering, edges, borders, and unlettered backs can be primed with a durable oil based primer like Zinsser Brand, and then finished with either oil based bulletin paint or quality latex paint. 23K gold leaf is great if used sparingly in a sign. Gold is a precious metal so it will outlast any stain or paint.

It is not necessary to clear coat a sign if the proper finish materials are used. A clear coat will only last a minimal amount of time before needing re-coating, and the UV protection from something clear just can’t help protect the wood any more than the solid color finish below, in my way of thinking. I think it’s a waste of time and money unless you need abrasion protection like on vehicle lettering or signage in a high traffic area where there’s lots of opportunities for people to mess with the sign.

After all this, how long can one expect a cedar sign to last? The cedar itself will last your lifetime as long as no one hits it with a mower, a tree doesn’t fall on it, or a car doesn’t run into it. But you can expect the finish to last an average of 10 years under normal conditions. So as long as you put your sign on a 10-year maintenance cycle, and nothing weird happens like a tornado or accident, it will last forever, at least from your point of view!

Mark Hackley owns and operates Augusta Sign Company of Waynesboro, Virginia

AUGUSTA SIGN COMPANY

501 S. Magnolia Avenue, PO Box 519

Waynesboro, VA 22980

540-943-9818 mark@augustasigncompany.com

Augusta Sign Makes Big Banner in Staunton Virginia

November 9, 2015 By Mark Hackley

Augusta Sign Company Makes Big Banner

Every now and then I get a call requesting a banner that is larger than the standard size. When I say standard I’m talking 4′ X 8′ or 3′ X 10′. Once last year a church ordered a banner that was 8′ high by 32′ wide to advertise an upcoming evangelistic series on Interstate 64. This year, I had the opportunity to make a fairly large banner for the gymnasium wall of a local Christian school that was 4′ tall by 20′ long.

There is not much different in making a banner normal size or huge; you just have to pay attention to resolution to make sure the finished banner is not blurry and unreadable. Sometimes hanging larger banners can pose extra challenges than smaller ones, especially if outdoors exposed to the wind, or mounted at above normal heights.

Here’s a picture of the banner…

big banner Staunton Augusta County VA Banners — 4′ tall X 20′ wide interior banner on local gym wall used to promote the organization’s mission statement…

Let me know if I can help you with one sometime! They definitely get the attention you seek.

Mark Hackley, Owner

Augusta Sign Company, 540-943-9818

Serving Waynesboro, Staunton, Fishersville, Stuarts Draft, Verona, and all of Augusta County