Engraving The Memorials
Note: If you have not read the Monu-CadŽ page yet, you may want to visit there for some background before visiting this page.
Once the Monu-CadŽ System has cut the stencil for the design, the next step is to send it to our shop. We have the only working shop in the Dayton area. The shop consists of several areas; the granite staging area, the layout room, the dust booth, sandblasts booths and cleaning area.
Granite Staging Area
We order granite from all over the world. Granite is shipped to us from within the United States, also Canada, India, China and Africa. The granite comes shaped and polished to the required dimension and arrives at our facility crated on a flat bed truck. After the granite is offloaded, we uncrate each stone to be sure of the size, color and quality of finish. We then take the memorials to the staging area where they are placed on a banker for movement around the shop.
Layout Room
This is the first stop of the granite after leaving the staging area. Here, the stencil (cut by the Monu-CadŽ System) is adhered to the granite memorial. Any additional artwork which may not be in the Monu-CadŽ System, is hand drawn and added at this time. Once the stencil is applied, certain areas of the stencil are then removed, or "pulled", depending on the type of design. On most granites, the polish around the lettering is removed, or "dusted", creating a name panel. By removing the polish around the letters, it creates a lighter background for the names to be easily read.
Dust Booth
Once the necessary stencil is removed, the memorial is taken to the dust booth. Here, we manually "hit" the exposed areas of polish with a mixture of abrasive and sand which passes through a high pressure nozzle. The mixture impacts the surface of the memorial at 100 pounds of pressure per square inch. Wherever the stone is exposed the abrasive cuts. Wherever the stencil remains, the abrasive bounces off protecting the granite underneath. This process removes the areas of polished surface, creating lighter areas called panels. Eventually the letters and lines of the artwork layout will be cut into these panels, providing the contrast to the polished areas.
Preparation For Final Sandblasting
The "dusted" monument is now returned to the layout room with a coating of glue on the panels. The stencil that was removed before dusting is now replaced and pressed onto the glued surface. Next, the detail lines for the artwork and the letters are removed. The lettering is then reviewed for accuracy of spelling, the stencil is hammered with a rubber mallet to ensure adhesion, and the memorial is sent to the automatic sandblast.
Automatic Sandblast
The automatic sandblast uses the same basic principal as the dust booth, only here the process is automated and more time consuming. Unlike the dust booth, where only the polished surface is removed, the automatic blast carves the deeper letters and line work of the memorial. By moving at a consistent horizontal and simultaneously vertical pace, the automatic sandblast slowly cuts into the exposed areas of granite. With each pass of the blasting nozzle (located at the end of the high pressure hose) the lines and letters cut deeper and deeper. Eventually these areas blast to a depth and shape that resembles the letter U. The U shape depth is an indication that the memorial is nearly complete. A few more passes from the abrasive, and the lines and letters will achieve the desired "V" cut depth. Upon reaching this depth, we remove the memorial from the automatic sandblast.
Shadowing
There are two philosophies in the memorial industry concerning letter shadowing. Some companies find it acceptable to paint the lettering and line detail with a black paint. This creates a bold letter which is easy to read, but has a major drawback: over time this paint will chip out of the memorial creating a very unsightly appearance.
We follow the alternate belief that the more natural the memorial looks, the better. Therefore, the letters receive a light shadow which only helps accentuate the natural shadow of the "V" cut letter. The shadow we use is a stain which the granite absorbs and will not chip out over time. Our goal is that the memorial will look the same in two or three generations as it does the day it leaves our facility.
Final Inspection
After the shadowing process, the stencil is removed and the monument is cleaned with a biodegradable solvent. This citrus-based solvent removes the glue and abrasive residue left behind during production. A final inspection is made and the memorial is placed in the warehouse to await delivery.