All of your ideas are great but I didn't see "headstone rubbing" mentioned. This is by far the easiest and one of the safest methods to read an unreadable stone. You use regular light weight white paper, like typewriter/printer bond paper (although I have seen some folks using tissue paper) and a very soft leaded pencil. I have found headstones that were virtually unreadable -- wet or day, in the sunlight or in the shadows, or by running my fingers over the letters -- become readable from a rubbing. You simply lay the paper over the area of the headstone you wish to "rub" and with a gentle motion move the pencil lead back and forth over the stone. The edges of the lettering will show up darker than the indentations and once the rubbing is complete and the paper is laid out flat it is usually readable. (And no harm is done to the stone!). Billie In Sacramento, CA ------------------------------------ X-Message: #7 Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2002 11:37:48 EDT From: Jleflore65@aol.com To: OK-CEMETERIES-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <b7.25a26cce.2a9ba54c@aol.com> Subject: Re: [OK-CEM] cleaning tombstones Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Dennis, thank you so much for the information on registering old graves. That was a tremendous help. And your tip about taking the bucket to sit on is great! These old bones would appreciate that. Do you still go out and register graves? Have you ever tried metal detecting? Thank you again. Suzie