My Tips for Tombstone Etching

On reading the tombstones I have used chalk, or even shaving cream and one of those rubber tools you wipe down a window with after you clean it. Can't think of what you call it. Then you can wipe the shave cream off with an old rag. Even some dry dirt rubbed into the writing sometimes helps.

For photographs, I recommend the chalk for the stark color shows up a lot better. The sidewalk chalk is cheap and water soluble.  Also you should carry a kit in your car so that you are prepared at all times. A soft brush or cloth is essential. Carry water with you too. Never know what you will find!

A very strong flashlight or two is a good idea. When on a trip you can't always wait for a good time to take a picture. Some even recommend mirrors to reflect the sun light. I think I would prefer not the glass kind.

Take at least two shots of each headstone, one close up so that you can read the inscription, and one from a distance which identifies the marker's location in the cemetery.

If the gravestone is one of several in a family grouping, then you may also want to take a wide angle shot of the entire family plot (a tombstone's position in relation to other family members may provide a clue to relationships).

Take several pictures (from different angles) showing the entire cemetery, or at least as large a portion of it as you can fit in a single picture.

Unless it is a small family plot hidden in the middle of a cornfield, the front gates or entrance of the cemetery makes another good view to record on film.

For etching, use what we use to call butcher paper and charcoal. Rub the charcoal over the paper you have placed on the head stone.

This is essential! Clean up after your self, don't give us a bad mark that we won't be allowed to do this for genealogy.
 

I have seen some where on line that someone was using Sno-Bo Cleaner!

Some have recommended using Shaving Cream, I have also seen this is dangerous to the very old stones. As there is chemical like an acid that is harmful to the stones.

If the chemicals can harm us what can they do for the wild life in the cemetery!

This is me on a research trip to a cemetery.
This on Forest Lawn Cemetery in Omaha, Nebraska.
This is where Alvin Saunders, my 3rd great uncle, is buried.		 This is the gravestone of Elizabeth Myers Whisenand my 2nd Great Grandmother. Shiloh (or Old Gordon) Cemetery, Coles Co., IL. Picture taken July 2005 This is the gravestone of William R. Harrison my 4th Great-Grandfather. Wallick (aka Mason Baldwin) Cemetery, Linn, Cedar County, Iowa. Taken July 2006 This is me July 2005 at Elizabeth Myers Whisenand's grave site.