beginner in stone

["George Graham" <georgergraham@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Sheila,
There are all kinds of things that could on the outside of your stone.
If there are trees over and around the stone, then you will see a build up
of crud on the outside. Sometimes one side will look better then the other
due to the prevailing winds. If the cemetery is downwind from an old
industrial site or in a metropolitan area you will see a heavy buildup of
black grime and soot. Heavy and pronounced veins in stone will become more
obvious after years of weathering. If a repair or patching was done back in
the 80's. then you can look for stuff that just doesen't look quite the
same.  If you lightly sand the whole area, then it should clean up just the
same. If your stone has been broken and repaired then I would't try to take
it apart. Often the old stone will come apart from the glue used. A repair
really is only as good as the stone its joining. Usually the glue is
stronger the stone.

Your discriptions of the carving on the stone makes me think that you should
take great care to preserve what you've got. The old carvings are records of
workmanship and styles from the past. Also , one of biggest fears of old
cemetery caretakers is that once an old stone is removed, there is no record
of the exact location, and who is actually there. Any lost information is
truly lost.

Enough gloom and doom for now, and i'm looking forward to learning how you
make out.
george Graham