A cousin in Union, SC, keeps an old athletic sock loosely full of flour (knotted at top, of course) in a zip lock baggie in his pickup. He just lightly beats the sock against the engravings and they become legible. Again, the theory is that water flushes the flour. But we all know the paste that flour + water can become and the crusty mess it makes. Doesn't help where lichen covers the lettering. Although there's much tut-tutting about the use of flour, I wish I had used something of the sort 3 years ago on a stone of my 7X grandparents who died in 1789 & 90; the gravestone itself seems to have disappeared now from Steele Creek Presbyterian here in Mecklenburg, NC. Of course, the cemetery has been read several times, but there's nothing like a photo of the inscription for your records. About the water: same cousin just carries a hipflask or jogger's flask of water. The wet shininess of the stone often makes the inscription stand out. And plain water can't harm. The mirrors really do work well; it also helps to photograph when shadows are longer, i.e. not in midday. Anne Crocker >>> Here's the "fount of all knowledge" on the subject of gravestone >>> preservation: http://www.gravestonestudies.org/. Prowl around on >>> that site >>> for much information! >>> >>> For many years, I have used with success plain table flour which, >>> applied by >>> the handful, and gently rubbed into the inscriptions, will bring >>> out even >>> very worn inscriptions, so they may be successfully photographed. >>> It is >>> organic, and avoids all the chemical objections of gravestone >>> preservationists. >>> >>> >SNIP<