Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Proper Techniques in Cleaning Gravestones

I find myself in a cemetery or two nearly every week during the Spring/Summer/Fall season.  Many old stones are difficult to read as the inscriptions have worn thin due to wind and rain erosion. 

I am appalled to find gravestones covered with chalk dust: a mistake that injures soft porous stones.  Please do not ever use chalk to scribble over an inscription.  Yes, this technique will work as the chalk fills in the areas surrounding the thin outlines of letters making these easy to read.  However, the chalk will soak in to the stone causing a discoloration. 

Here is one method that I personally use.  All that you need is:

1) a soft-bristle brush (no wires or other hard materials)
2) a jug of water (or several if no water supply in cemetery)
3) a bottle of Palmolive Oxy dish soap

You may have seen this Oxy degreaser advertised on TV as a laundry detergent.  It works great.  It suds easily and removes much dirt and debris.

The first thing I do is wet the inscription by leaning a gallon of water against the top of the stone and allowing the water to pour down the surface.

Once thoroughly wettened I then add a few drops of Palmolive Oxy to my soft bristle brush and proceed to lightly scrub the stone to loosen dirt and debris. 

I will again add water to remove the dirt I have loosened.  This sometimes will take several scrubbings to remove all the dirt to the point that the inscription becomes legible.  That is why you will need access to plenty of water. 

The OXY soap will create a lather.  I find that sometimes the inscription becomes legible with the lather left in place.  In the picture below I have completed scrubbing a small section of a hard-to-read inscription.  You can see how easy it has become to read it.  

After I removed the dirt with water the inscription was still easy to see but it was not as legible.

Another trick I will use with light inscriptions is the flashlight technique.  Hold a powerful flashlight at a slight angle against the stone in close proximity to the inscription.  You will find that the light casts shadows within the faintest of outlines making the inscriptions "pop out" even without cleaning.

I will often use a combination of these two techniques when photographing hard-to-read inscriptions.  And I can feel relieved that I have done nothing to harm the grave for future generations.

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