Genealogy Chat

I will be visiting Rowan Road Cemetery in June to take my 87 Mum to visit her Mum's (d.1933) grave.

I visited in 2012 and found a lot of the lettering had fallen off the headstone, I gathered it into a pile and hope it will still be there. I would like to try and re fix the lettering to the headstone. I am pretty sure the lettering is lead.

I am unsure what product I should use as an adhesive. Can anyone make any suggestions please.? I have searched on the Internet but can find no direct answer.

Thanks,
Susan

Why not ask one of the local stonemasons .

Mind you they may see it as an opportunity to do the work themselves

It looks as if the lettering was usually fixed on by small screws / rivets on each letter .

It may not be possible to refix them as new as you don't know how epoxy glues etc will react with the lead .

Plus handling lead isn't a good idea now without using some protection

I go back to consulting a stonemason

And also consult the owners of the Cemetary, they may have rules about 'repairing' damaged headstones.

;-)

I stuck my grandparents on with an Araldite type resin glue.......they have stayed in for over 10 years now,

if the headstone is marble its a common problem with lettering falling out....the frost and ice caused the marble to swell and out pops the letters......

I think you'll be very lucky if the 'pile' is still there.............

i was thinking the same as reggie
but if you tuck them up in a corner then maybe your get lucky and there still be there

Good point Shelley & Reggie

To avoid upsetting your mum, it might be best to warn her that there is a thriving market in scrap metal. Not all of it is obtained honestly. :-0

Thank you for your replies.

I never gave it a thought that the fallen lettering might be knicked. :-D....

I know there is a gatehouse at the Cemetery so I will look online and see if I can contact 'whoever' for an answer. It is a Jewish Cemetery and rather large, hopefully our little pile of letters escaped any tea leaf's notice....

I may just take a little tube of araldite as a last resort (and a pair of gloves), even if the lettering falls off again, I will have tried my best.

Thanks again.
Susan :-)

Just to let you know the process of lead lettering a headstone.
Step 1- the lettering is hand chiseled into the stone.
Step 2- tiny holes are drilled into the lettering Chanels. These are used to pin the lead lettering in place .
Step 3- tiny lead pins are tapped into the holes, to anchor the lead letters in place.
Step 4- molten lead is poured into the letter Chanels. Left to cool ..
Step 5- a sharp blade used to cut any excess or over flow away.
Step 6 - using a fine sand block or pumice block. Buff to smooth and level finish.

Granite quartz or marble is formed from millions of tiny crystals. Becomes weathered and porous over time. Buff surface with a cuttle fish bone to remove porous layer and then you can release the letters in same fashion with solder,copper foiling and flux using a regular solder iron.

Why not take a small pot of black paint and a small brush and paint the missing letters in if the lead letter have gone missing.

Presumably the original process requires the stone to be horizontal in order to pour the lead.

Epoxy Resin does, however, appear to be the easiest solution for a repair, but depending on the how extensive the damage is you might need rather a lot of it.

It would be interesting if Susan were to come back to tell us what her eventual solution was - not that she'll be looking at this thread now.