Is it possible to reface a headstone?

Question

There is a graveyard by my uncles house, with tons of old, old, graves/headstones... Some are overgrown by bushes and not taken care of... Normally i wouldn't take one from a well kept site but you couldn't see them anyways. Is it possible to chisel, or smooth down the etching in a headstone as to make it a blank slate again? I heard they are expensive, and it would be cheaper if i could use those old ones? How difficult would it be, and what tools do you need?

Answer 1

Please Dont take some one head stone

Even tho there family iesnt taking care of it

if you were dead  & if your family didnt take of your headstone would you like some one to just steal it....?

just pay for one like every one esle

Answer 2

Taking a headstone from a cemetery would probably be considered desecrating a grave.  That is a pretty serious charge and as such I think I would consider the possible consequences long and hard before doing so.  That said, your question has a rather simple answer.

The old stones you are talking about are almost certainly natural stone; probably marble of granite.  Either can be resurfaced.  After all, either stone was raw at some time in its history.  Someone cut it, polished it and engraved it at that time so there is no reason why it couldn't be done again.  The problem is the cost.  You see the processing of a piece of stone is a very large part of the cost of any headstone.  If you took your own rock to the place for carving and they had to process it in a non-standard way then you could actually be looking at a higher bill for the stone than if they used their standard process with their stone.

If you want to investigate this further I would suggest you contact either a place that deals in headstones or if you just want to clean up an existing stone talk to a place that specializes in stone kitchen counter tops.  They normally have the means to cut and polish stone.  Whether or not they would be interested in doing what you want would be a matter for you and them to discuss.

Good luck.

Answer 3

Defacing objects of public respect is a Class D felony .Also you may be charged with vandalism and theft. Respect the dead.

Answer 4

You can get in big trouble de-facing a tombstone if it's a old cemetary.

Answer 5

u have no respect for the dead do u