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Is it Safe? Bronze on Marble Headstone

Hand Lettering topics: Sign Making, Design, Fabrication, Letterheads, Sign Books.

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Joe Illingworth
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Feb 20, 2018 12:12 pm

Is it Safe? Bronze on Marble Headstone

Post by Joe Illingworth »

Hi all,

Thank you for your time, I'm preparing to attach a bronze ornament to my girlfriend's father's white marble headstone and have the following questions:

1) Will the patina from a raw-bronze ornament set into the marble run into the marble and stain/etch it? If yes, would this stain be permanent or removable? As an alternative I could CNC the ornament out of a black marble.
2) The cemetery in Idaho has hard water and I'm looking to protect the materials against it. Is there any protection/sealant for the marble I could use in general? Or for the bronze, if any of you know?
3) If I were attaching bronze-to-marble, or marble-to-marble, what would be the bonding medium you would recommend?

I also posted on another forum but it's difficult finding people who might know this, or at least I'm not very sure where to look. If this is the wrong place, let me know, but please point me in a better direction.

Thank you in advance, this piece really means a lot to me and with my lack of experience I want to take all necessary precautions.

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I'm Joe, a Biomedical Engineer out of Salt Lake City that has embarked on several make projects recently and was given the heavy yet important task of doing the graphics, lettering and ornament for my girlfriend's father, who died suddenly last year. The lettering and graphics looks wonderful but I'm apprehensive about the dangers of staining marble with the ornament I'm making and want to avoid ruining the marble.
John Smith
Posts: 19
Joined: Wed Aug 16, 2017 7:11 pm
Location: Kissimmee, Florida
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Re: Is it Safe? Bronze on Marble Headstone

Post by John Smith »

Personally - I would walk into the local cemetery monument place and discuss it with them.
not a phone call - something of this nature I would want a face-to-face with someone that
does that kind of work for a living.
Kings Bay Signs
Kingsland, GA ~ 1980-2008 (Retired)
Danny Baronian
Site Admin
Posts: 638
Joined: Wed Apr 07, 2004 2:16 am
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Re: Is it Safe? Bronze on Marble Headstone

Post by Danny Baronian »

John's suggestion is good, and would provide some valuable information.

I'd clear coat the bronze plaque rather than treating the marble. In addition, check with a local auto body supply that carries automotive paint, and ask for some water white, pre catalyzed spray, available in spray cans. Using this product, coated polished brass plaques look as good as when they they were fabricated in the shop years ago.

For the best finish, clean the metal well, handling with cotton gloves prior to spraying, coating out preferably in a spray booth. As usual, several light coats are better than a heavy one. It also helps to hang the plaque vertically when spraying, as spraying horizontally is prone to attract any airborne particles.

As for the marble, there are sealers that can be used. Hopefully the monument supplier will offer suggestions . You might find this helpful: http://www.gravestonepreservation.info/ ... ling-stone

Danny
Danny Baronian
Baronian Mfg.
CNC Routing & Fabrication
http://www.baronian.com
John Smith
Posts: 19
Joined: Wed Aug 16, 2017 7:11 pm
Location: Kissimmee, Florida
Contact:

Re: Is it Safe? Bronze on Marble Headstone

Post by John Smith »

Danny - that is a very interesting article you posted !!
THANKS for sharing !!!
Kings Bay Signs
Kingsland, GA ~ 1980-2008 (Retired)
Joe Illingworth
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Feb 20, 2018 12:12 pm

Re: Is it Safe? Bronze on Marble Headstone

Post by Joe Illingworth »

Thank you so much! I will talk to my local auto body supply.
I only have 1 follow-up question: Because the ornament is bronze it would cost a ton to add a rod that would go into the stone, which is commonly used to attach ornaments to marble. Here is the bottom surface (pic below, ignore red text), I want to adhere the 2 circular faces to the stone with some Domo from Tenax, a 2 part epoxy recommended on another forum. I was thinking of scoring/making these circular faces somewhat of a lattice so that the epoxy has a better bond between the two surfaces. Do you think this would hold? The piece is only 4 inches in diameter
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