What do you do when a final date is needed on a stone that is already out in the cemetery? You call us and we’ll take care of you.
Believe it or not, we can take care of inscribing final dates out in the cemetery with our mobile lettering truck.
When we receive an order for a final date, either from the family of the deceased or from the funeral home directly, we’ll do everything we can to ensure the final date is a perfect match to the inscriptions already on the stone.
Matching the Original
If the stone was originally purchased from us we will have the original drawing and cut file to reference. All we need to do is pull that original file up and base the new lettering on that ensuring a perfect match!
If we did not create the stone originally the process is a little more complicated. We’ll send someone out to the cemetery to get a rubbing of your stone using carbon paper.
This creates an exact copy we will send to our art department in Crooks, SD where our designers will use it to create a final date that matches every aspect (font, size, spacing, etc.) of the existing lettering perfectly.
We’ve seen too many terrible examples of final dates not matching the original stone. We do everything in our power to make it look as if the entire stone was carved all at the same time.
Blasting Final Dates
Once our art department can verify the new lettering will be a perfect match (either from our original file or the carbon paper rubbing) we’ll cut the stencil for our cemetery lettering guy using a plotter. The plotter is basically a big printer that uses a razor blade to cut around all of the characters so they can be pulled out later.
When he arrives at the stone he’ll set up his equipment, take the necessary steps and precautions (protecting the other parts of the stone from the sandblaster), and blast the new lettering.
When the blasting is complete, he’ll spray in some shadow paint (if it’s needed to match the original lettering) and clean up the area. Our goal is to make it seem like no one was ever there.
This entire process of blasting a final date can take anywhere from thirty minutes to a couple of hours. It all depends on how many characters are to be blasted, what font style they are, and how big the area is!
Note: when we can do this work is heavily dependent on the weather conditions. We can’t do it when it’s rainy or snowy because the stone will be too wet. We can’t do it early in the morning because the stone will be damp from the morning dew. We can’t sandblast the lettering if the stone doesn’t get above 55 or 60 degrees because the stencil won’t stick well enough to a cold stone. Basically, we need to have nice and dry weather in order to do this work!
War Memorials
We are also able to add names to war memorials. Even if we didn’t do the original memorial, we can still work with you to add all of the veterans who need to be honored. We will do many of the same steps mentioned above to ensure that all of the new information matches perfectly.
Please reach out to us if you need to have names added to your local war memorial. The pricing varies based on the number of names and the type of etching that needs to take place.
Pricing for Final Dates
For a final date consisting of the month, day and year, the price is $250.
For a final date consisting of just the year, the price is $225.
For additional lettering or differently formatted dates, the prices will vary. Our monument experts will be able to give you an exact quote on custom projects like this.
We understand that the final date we are inscribing is the closing of a chapter in many lives, so we take pride in our work and guarantee a job well done to all of our customers. If you are in need of a final date (or any other type of lettering) on an already existing stone, please give us a call.
Check out our other services: Memorial Design, Laser Etching, Landscape Stones, Stone Repair/Resetting