a tip for faded Headstones

[Guest]

somebody has put this tip up for hard to read Headstones its a brilliant idea.

For those who said the inscriptions get worn down, there is a very simple method to fixing! (Dottie is my sister) we both go together for these Cemetery outings. We take a can of spray shaving cream, a good brush, and the rest is magic! We see those headstones Everytime, and the problem is, you can't read them! If you spray the cream on, and wipe it off, the inscription holes get filled in white cream and you can read.. the magic is, there is no harm! The cream comes off first wash, and causes no effect! Just one of the simple tricks, Dottie & I have figured out over the years

[GallowayLass]

somebody has put this tip up for hard to read Headstones its a brilliant idea.

For those who said the inscriptions get worn down, there is a very simple method to fixing! (Dottie is my sister) we both go together for these Cemetery outings. We take a can of spray shaving cream, a good brush, and the rest is magic! We see those headstones Everytime, and the problem is, you can't read them! If you spray the cream on, and wipe it off, the inscription holes get filled in white cream and you can read.. the magic is, there is no harm! The cream comes off first wash, and causes no effect! Just one of the simple tricks, Dottie & I have figured out over the years

This I have got to try!! First chance I get I am going to take a journey up to the graveyard which contains the oldest known gravestone in my mother's direct line. I was there years ago and only got a transcription of the front side. There was text on the back but it was too faint to read and covered in lichen. As the stone is made of sandstone, I didn't want to try to clean it up in case I caused any damage. The best trick I had known previously was to get a soft lead pencil and trace it into the carving which would hopefully define the text enough to read it or at least work out what it must be.
Will go to Supersave up the street and get a can of foam and pop it into the car so I have it to hand when the time comes.
Thanks Val and Dottie.
PS what do you clean off with? Plain or soapy water?

[Quasimodo]

PS what do you clean off with? Plain or soapy water?

Plain old water will do the job. That's a very neat trick. I am thinking of going looking for graves myself soon at the Melbourne General Cemetery (which is huge) and I'm wondering if headstones from the 1860's to 1880's are likely to be readable or not. That's if the graves have headstones of course. My ancestors were not that well off as far as I can tell.

[Guest]

I wish I'd know about it when I visited my 3 X Great Grandparents graves as they were hardly legible, trying to talk Tom into taking me again with a can of foam;D

[GallowayLass]

To fine tune this tip...
Put a bit of foam in the palm of your hand and rub it into the text a little at a time till all the carvings are filled.
DO NOT do as I did this afternoon :D :D :D
I sprayed the lines of text and by the time I had gone into my handbag to find a packet of paper hankies to wipe off the excess, when I turned round, the whole thing had massively expanded and with the very slight breeze there were clumps of foam everywhere!! Not being male and ever having used the stuff, I didn't know it was supposed to expand. I am home now and still stinking of aloe vera and hubby is crying with laughter. Yes, I forgot to take a kitchen cloth and paper hankies proved to be as much use as a chocolate watch.
Fortunately there was someone from the church there who came to my rescue with a large broom and a couple of buckets of water.
We achieved best results by me patting all the excess and escaped foam into to holes and he brushed off the excess. The brushing worked better when the brush was ever so slightly damp. Needless to say we didn't cotton on to this till the very end when the clean up began.
I was already covered up to elbows in the stuff and got it on my body warmer as well. Thank goodness the chap had a good sense of humour ! Methinks a cheque to the church funds will be in the post tomorrow. I felt such an idiot.
Although I now know what is on the back of the stone, I now have more questions than answers. Who was Mary daughter of Alexander who died in 1798 aged 4 years. No address given, doh!
Alexander is not a family forename that I have come across before.

[Guest]

sorry but I am laughing , sounds so funny, what is the surname of Mary ?

[Guy]

somebody has put this tip up for hard to read Headstones its a brilliant idea.

For those who said the inscriptions get worn down, there is a very simple method to fixing! (Dottie is my sister) we both go together for these Cemetery outings. We take a can of spray shaving cream, a good brush, and the rest is magic! We see those headstones Everytime, and the problem is, you can't read them! If you spray the cream on, and wipe it off, the inscription holes get filled in white cream and you can read.. the magic is, there is no harm! The cream comes off first wash, and causes no effect! Just one of the simple tricks, Dottie & I have figured out over the years

NO! NO! NO!

Please do not use shaving cream on headstones it will not, repeat not wash off and will damage the stone.


Most shaving creams contain emollients to soften the skin, while at the same time protecting it, these case problems when used on porous stone
Shaving Cream also contains stearic acid (chemical formula C₁₇H₃₅CO₂H a colourless, waxy solid that is insoluble in water) which will cause the surface of the stone to spall, especially if that stone is either marble, limestone and even granite.
Marble and Limestone are highly reactive to acids, and by using shaving cream you are increasing the weathering effect on the stone.
The chemicals in shaving cream will also permeate into the microscopic pores of the stone and will not be readily washed out. These chemicals, which consist of soaps, mineral oil, fatty alcohols and other skin conditioners are all organic compounds which are biodegradable. They provide food for microscopic organisms, fungi, mosses, etc. The growth of such organisms in the pores of a stone causes expansive forces which will gradually cause microscopic particles of the stone to be flaked off. These enlarged microscopic pores can also collect moisture in wet freezing weather and the freezing action causes microscopic fractures of the stone because, as you know, water expands upon freezing.

The best way to read worn headstone is to use lights to form shadows in the indentations on a cloudy day or evening.

What ever you do please do not vandalise the headstones.

Cheers
Guy

[GallowayLass]

Val, the family name is Hiddleston

[Katarzyna]

Absolutely agree Guy.
I did put a post up about this before but cannot find it at the moment.
I used foil last time I did it as I had read about it here.
Using shaving foam is like using acid rain.

[GallowayLass]

That tin of foam will not be going near another gravestone!

[Katarzyna]

You did make me laugh though, GL.

[GallowayLass]

You did make me laugh though, GL.

I'm not safe to be let out on my own sometimes LOL. But seriously, I am hoping that the soft broom and copious amounts of clean water will have cleaned it all away as we cleaned it out of the carvings as well as off the face of the stone. It was a lovely warm day so there's a good chance the stone would dry off before too long.

[Guest]

I thought that too Guy ,but this person seems to think it washes off easily, I will go and inform him now.

[GallowayLass]

sorry but I am laughing , sounds so funny, what is the surname of Mary ?

I have pinned down father and daughter now. My 5x GGF and M are on the front of the stone along with an infant son. There was another son I had never known of before and it is his infant daughter who is the subject of the previously illegible text on the reverse. Another early twig that will need to explore. Maybe this will be where the forthcoming DNA results will prove their worth when they arrive?

[Guest]

a few on ancestry have her in their tree

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=pubmembertrees&gss=sfs28_ms_db&new=1&rank=1&msT=1&gsfn=mary&gsfn_x=0&gsln=hiddleston&gsln_x=0&msbdy=1794&msfng=alexander&MSAV=1&uidh=uld

[kylejustin]

I saw a few headstones with white paint in the lettering. Showed up lovely, and wondered who did it, as these graves were quite old in the cemetery, some of the earliest.

[Quasimodo]

Well I am no industrial chemist or stonemason but I doubt that a bit of shaving cream briefly applied and then thoroughly rinsed off would do much harm to a headstone. Particularly when it would be unlikely to happen to the same headstone more than once or twice in a decade even if that often.

[merleyone]

In a similar way, I have seen some individual names on the Royal Naval War Memorial on Plymouth Hoe which have had the Brasso treatment. Being engraved on Bronze or Brass panels, these names absolutely shine out after a polish. Alright if the name you wish to polish is low enough but no good if it is too high.

merleyone

[Guest]

thats another good idea Kyle long as its done carefully, Quasimodo I am going to ask a stone mason if it would harm it.
Merleyone another brilliant idea.