Scot, I have a 1/4 inch ball bearing on the tip of mine. It goes into the ground pretty smoothly without much pressure so you don't hit the stone hard enough to damage it. At least I've not damaged any stones yet. Where you have to be really careful is if or when you decide to bring the stone back up. Brian Smead Terre Haute, Indiana -----Original Message----- From: scotstout@aol.com [mailto:scotstout@aol.com] Sent: Tuesday, July 18, 2006 4:07 PM To: INPCRP-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [INPCRP] probing with steel rod i have a question about using a steel rod for probing for buried tombstones... doesn't using steel run the risk of damaging the buried stone? i'm concerned that it could break the stone, or chip off a small part and damage the engraved text. wouldn't it be better to use a wooden or stiff plastic rod? scot ________________________________________________________________________ Check out AOL.com today. Breaking news, video search, pictures, email and IM. All on demand. Always Free. ==== INPCRP Mailing List ==== This list is for discussion of topics related to the Indiana Pioneer Cemeteries Restoration Project only. Please do not send genealogical queries through this list. The surname and geographic Mailing Lists on Rootsweb at http://lists.rootsweb.com are a better venue. Thank you.