There are two lines of thought when it comes to cleaning a cemetery stone. 1. Don't clean the stone because you might harm it. 2. Clean the stone so you can read the name. (1)If you don't clean the stone then it is worthless. It is not going to get better by itself. (2)Clean the stone just enough to read the name and dates USING GOOD JUDGEMENT ON HOW TO CLEAN IT. If you have a stone that crumbles, than the stone is gone and the names are lost forever. I have read many pages on how to clean a stone and I question the quality of information on many of these instructions. I have cleaned a lot of stones and haven't harmed one yet. These were only stones that were unreadable and I always get permission from the cemetery board, the county, or the family before I clean. I have had a lot of people thank me as they can now read the names. It comes down to good judgement, common sense and experience. My idea of a perfect vacation is "A bottle of water (to drink), a clipboard, and a cemetery. My wife and I are dedicated to the recording of names and dates of our ancestors for the use in future generations. We have inventoried over 50 cemeteries and supervised another 60 cemetery or so. Our special interest is to record those people whose stones are unreadable, or marked with a rock. If you go into any cemetery that we have completed, you will not be able to find any stone that we have cleaned. My I refer you to AR-Cemeteries. Check Baxter and Fulton Counties for my work. I am in the process of adding many more to this list. AR-Cemeteries: http://www.rootsweb.com/~arcemete/arcem.htm Please us my personal email for any response. Gene Simpson genrit@yahoo.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance - Get real-time stock quotes http://finance.yahoo.com