beginner in stone

["Paul Rigby" <p.j.rigby@xxxxxxx>]

The beginning of your letter gave me the idea that a
good approach may be with money.

Your grandfather provided very generously.  Maybe its
time to retire that old stone--remember when you begin
work on it you will change it irrevocably. Depending on
the size of the monument it may be easier to simply
replace it.

Take a rubbing, redraw the carving and take it to a
monument maker (several to get better prices).

You may be surprised at how well they can duplicate your
design and with modern methods (including laser etching
and sandblasting of letters) you may get a truly
beautiful memorial that will last virtually forever (you
may even want to put a new dedication upon the stone as
well).

You can then take the original stone and place it in a
location where it will be protected and the original
patina will not deteriorate further.

Best of luck.

Paul Rigby