When Purchasing a Headstone, Traditional Engraving vs Laser Etched Designs
One of the most confusing decisions to make when purchasing a headstone is whether you choose a laser etched design or a classic deep cut sand blasted design. With our many years of experience in selling headstones for marking graves or vertical monuments we have our preferences based on experiences and from customer feedback. These monuments in commemoration of your loved ones will hopefully be set in place for the end of time. We never think when buying that it will be needed to be replaced in our life time due to degradation from wear and tear. For information on purchasing a headstone or for assistance on selecting traditional engraving vs laser etched designs, contact American Headstones and speak with Josh Rapozo (949) 228-7055.
Laser Etched Designs
Laser etched designs are done with the use high tech laser etching CNC machines. Here a laser is used to arc or scratch the stone in a very precise manner. Chipping away the stone as the laser arc hits the surface. The down fall of this technology is that it is only skin deep and lends itself to degradation over a short period of time. This degradation is in the form of losing the details and the art appears to be faded in time. Unfortunately there is no way to restore this once it has gone away. I have found that some families have scratched the art away when trying to clean the stone with abrasive cleaners. The cost of laser etched designs are generally lesser expensive than traditional engraving due to the work required from start to finish.
Laser etched portraits are a good way to have a large image placed on a stone, the technology lends itself to larger and more intricate imaging but it has its down falls as stated above. When comparing pricing for a laser photograph versus a porcelain fired insert, the cost savings is better with laser photos. Another disadvantage with laser photos is that it can only be done on Black granite so you can get the sharp contrast between black and white. Porcelain fired photos can be done in full color, Black and white or Sepia tones.
Traditional Engraving
Traditional sand blasted designs are beautiful and present themselves as a masterpiece when completed, although designs can be complex they are limited to the sand blast technology. Word depth and spacing is a fine balance to prevent chipping of the base granite. The look is timely and the depth of letters give the stone a hand finished look. The colors of granite is not an issue since the engraving is done deep cut then filled in with a contrasting white or black lithchrome ink.
Spend your time visiting a local cemetery and look at both types of engraving then make a smart choice based on your budget. We at American Headstone can custom design and cut your full custom design. We have experiences in photo shop and Omega software. The design you come up with can surely be placed on stone for an eternity if you call us for help. For all questions on purchasing a headstone or engraving, contact American Headstones at (949) 228-7055 and speak with Josh Rapozo.
Article written by Josh Rapozo of American Headstones
