old memorial stone.

jimini0

I hope this is the right forum.
We found a stone plaque at memorial site. Its not an official site yet. Its the location of where my grand uncle was shot and killed in battle with the black and tans in 1921. Its hand carved/scraped. We can make out some of the words but its been sitting in a bog for decades so its well weathered. Is there any way of enhancing the words to see what it says? Without damaging it of course. It will be returned to its position next to the marker stone. Also is there any protection that can be put on this stone to protect it from future erosion?
Any help would be appreciated. My dad is delighted that we found the site and wants to protect it for future generations
Thanks

Standard Toaster

Take a digital picture of it and convert it to a negative or if it's flat get a piece of paper and rub paper with crayon/charcoal.

Have you a pic you can upload?

Interesting story, I hope you can get to read it

Bonedigger

An option would be to take it to a local memorial stone engraver for cleaning.
They can lightly sand-blast the plaque without doing any damage to it and may be able to enhance the look of the writing on it.
I'd love to see it - can you post an image of it?

slowburner

Most of the common techniques used for enhancing worn inscriptions pose a certain amount of risk. Some of the techniques advocated can even cause permanent damage.
This has become a serious problem in recent years in historic graveyards where an increasing interest in genealogy has led to 'investigations' of headstones. I have seen some pretty horrible things done to read inscriptions including the use of wire brushes and paint.
Anything that adds to, or takes away from the inscription should be avoided at all costs.
Rubbings are useful and unlikely to cause damage.
Without doubt, the least invasive and most effective technique is to photograph the inscription in darkness. A diffuse light held at about 45° above the inscription and slightly forward, will reveal a huge amount of detail. This technique has really come to the fore in the past few years with an increasing body of work focussing on the magnificent 18th C headstones extant throughout the country.

jimini0

I will take a picture today to put up here for ye. The site was only found 2 weeks ago. Some locals knew it was there. When they were young and cutting turf in this bog they were always told by their father not to cut turf near that standing stone. The stone must be 4 foot tall. It had fallen over since then and when we were told about it dad cleared around it and found this small flat stone. He didn't think much of it until a the old lady told him that there is writing on it. They used to clean it when they were kids. We have the big stone standing again and want to put the small stone with the writing down beside it like it was originally.

jimini0

Bonedigger wrote: »

An option would be to take it to a local memorial stone engraver for cleaning.
They can lightly sand-blast the plaque without doing any damage to it and may be able to enhance the look of the writing on it.
I'd love to see it - can you post an image of it?

Its a piece of sand stone so I think sand blasting will destroy it. The words are barely 1mm deep now.

spurious

Photograph it a few times with light from as many directions as possible.

bawn79

spurious wrote: »

Photograph it a few times with light from as many directions as possible.

That to me sounds like the best solution. If you can take 30-80 photos of it from slightly different angles it can be put through various programs to help enhance what is already on it. There is a bit of work involved in figuring it out how they all work but it can be figured out. If you know someone that is reasonably computer friendly I could "talk" them through it.

cfuserkildare

What you would get best results from is either yourself or possibly an experienced photographer using the flash from 1 side so-as to create enough shadow in the carved characters to read the content.

( Sidelighting )

jimini0

Well after an hour taking photos from different angles with different light with no success. I decided to raid my sons pencil case. I rubbed chalk all over it and wiped off the excess. Then I could see the letters more clearly. I then highlighted them more by writing over the words with chalk. I'll put up a picture once I figure out how to upload it from my phone.

Reoil

jimini0 wrote: »

I'll put up a picture once I figure out how to upload it from my phone.

E-mail it to yourself?

jimini0

I have tried to upload the picture wont work.
I also tried to email it to myself but it wont show it. Stupid smart phones.

jimini0

Can one of ye help me with the photo?
I could email it to one of ye and ye can upload it on my behalf?

slowburner

jimini0 wrote: »

Can one of ye help me with the photo?
I could email it to one of ye and ye can upload it on my behalf?

If you create an account (free) with pix.ie, it's very easy to upload a photo.

Standard Toaster

jimini0 wrote: »

Can one of ye help me with the photo?
I could email it to one of ye and ye can upload it on my behalf?

Any luck uploading the photo? I would love to see it

jimini0

Standard Toaster wrote: »

Any luck uploading the photo? I would love to see it

My bloody phone packed in I lost all my recent photos.stupid smartphones. Pictures of the stone and pictures of the kids all gone. The stone is now in with some memorial people getting the letters redone. I'll get ye a picture once its finished.

jimini0

Just a quick update.
The memorial is finished. It looks good the ould fella has become obsessed with it. I will get photos up soon my brother has them on his phone.