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Archiver > CEMETERY > 1997-10 > 0877310659


From: William McMahon <>
Subject: Re: Tombstone Tracing
Date: Sun, 19 Oct 1997 20:24:19 -0500 (CDT)


At 12:51 PM 10/19/97 -0400, you wrote:
>Not trying to flame anyone, but if anyone can show me a tombstone absolutely
>proven to be damaged by shaving cream within 500 miles of my home in NW
>Arkansas, I wish to go see it and will pay a $200 finders fee to the person
>leading me to it under the circumstance that they will pay my expenses if it
>is not as they say it is. Not to mention I will stop shaving.
---------------------------------------------------
Terry,

Sure wish I could stop shaving. (;-}

The reason for not using shaving cream lies in the potential damage
over a very long period of time, not just a few years. The chemicals in
shaving cream will permeate into the microscopic pores of the stone
and will not be readlly washed out. These chemicals, which consist of
soaps, mineral oil, fatty alcohols and other skin conditioners are
all organic compounds which are biodegradable. Since they are
biodegradable, they provide fool for microscopic organisms, fungi,
mosses, etc. The growth of such organisms in the pores of a stone
causes expansive forces which will gradually cause microscopic particles of
the stone to be flaked off. These enlarged microscopic pores can also
collect moisture in wet freezing weather and the freezing action causes
microscopic fractures of the stone because, as you know, water expands
upon freezing.

In other words, only completely chemically inert materials should ever
contact a tombstone. Natural forces cause enough damage, so we don't
need to add new hazards.

I am not attempting, in any way, to flame you. I speak as a chemist who
has enough of a biological background to understand these external
man-made biochemical hazards to tombstones.

There is a simple way to read stones with out shaving cream. Use simple
talc (talcum powder), it is chemically inert and harmless to the stone.
Put it in an old sock, with holes darned up, and dust the stone, take
a soft paint brush and gently brush away the powder from the surface
leaving it in the engraved depressions and you can read and or photograph
the stone.

Good luck,

Bill
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