Even a water washing can be corrosive (unless it's distilled). Distilled water has a neutral pH value, meaning it is neither acidic or basic, but drinking water or tap water is not noramlly chemically neutral. In nature, polluting exhaust from fossil fuels mixes with rainwater forming a weak sulfuric or carbonic acid which is deposited on typically limestone or sandstone monuments dissolving the cementation, leading to the disintegration. These acid rains can travels hundreds of miles through the atmosphere. The polluting source need not be adjacent to the area being contaminated, since all internal combustion automobiles contribute to the problem. Granite monuments are much more resistant to this acid wash. If rainwater was pH netural, these monuments would be largely preserved. The exception would be the effects of freezing and thawing. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sandra Ferguson" <ferg@ntelos.net> To: <ohbelmon@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, October 31, 2006 10:21 AM Subject: [OHBELMON] grave rubbings > I've done the shaving cream too, and it works well....but, some folks even > feel that this method shouldn't be used. (However, I once asked an > acquaintance, a geologist, if this could be harmful to a headstone. > After > giving me the "are you crazy?" look, he said that he didn't see how > anything that didn't harm the skin could harm stone...I explained that I > flooded it off with water, after 'reading' it. ) > Good luck with church sextants and extant records....believe me, they > are often as scarce as hen's teeth. If these records were always and > readably available we wouldn't have to struggle to decipher headstones! > Many of our ancestors are buried in abandoned and/or private plot > cemeteries, with no hope of a record anywhere. > > Sandra > > > "I have never tried this ,but a friend of mine tried shaving cream sprayed > on the stone and than wiped off leaving the white in the recessed areas. > It > worked very well and apparently it wipes off with the spray bottle of > water > which they bring along." > I think the best hing to do is to get the photo and contact the church > or > cemetery sexton to get the records and give you the info from that. I have > had great succes doing it that way." > > > > -- > No virus found in this outgoing message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.1.409 / Virus Database: 268.13.20/508 - Release Date: > 10/31/2006 > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > OHBELMON-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.0.409 / Virus Database: 268.13.21/509 - Release Date: > 10/31/2006 > >