Nancy and I
drove down to Mike Brady's (FT3 1957-1959) house on Tuesday, November 30. I brought the plaque and
the rotary hammer drill to drill the granite. Mike had picked up the
granite the day before.
Mike had the granite clamped to a picnic bench in his garage. First thing we learned was that we had to re-tap the threaded receptacles in the back of the plaque, so the blind screws would be truly secure.
Then we had to accurately locate where we were going to drill the granite. I had brought a template for that, and it worked quite well. Mike center-punched the exact spots, and we started drilling.
That's the rotary hammer drill that we bought to drill the granite bell base at the Boston Naval Shipyard. The drill bit goes round and round, and at the same time it's pounding like a jack hammer. Mike has drilled a lot of gravestones with conventional drills and carbide masonry bits. He was amazed when I drilled holes 2" deep in about 15 seconds---about like drilling wooden beams. He's accustomed to taking 5 minutes per hole. This is the beauty of a rotary hammer drill.
We drilled pilot holes with a 1/4" bit, then we expanded the holes to 3/8". The yellow triangular square is there to help keep the drill bit perpendicular to the granite face. The granite marker weighs about 135 pounds.
Next we carefully tried the plaque, with four blind screws, to be absolutely sure that the screws lined up with the holes (I crossed my fingers).
Mike has worked on over 4,000 veteran gravestones and markers, and numerous commemorative plaques. The process is, you screw threaded rods (or blind screws) into the back of the plaque, pour liquid epoxy into the holes in the granite, then mount the plaque with the screws (with epoxy liberally applied) to the face of the granite. Oh---and you also apply Liquid Nails to the back of the plaque. For better or worse, we were working with epoxy with a 5 minute working time. 5 minutes goes by pretty fast.
All of a sudden things were getting away from us and the epoxy was setting up. Finally, it was in place. (Note that we were working with thin gloves on, to prevent getting corrosive sweat or skin oils on the plaque or the granite.)
Finally, Mike applied a sealing bead of silicone around the while plaque, and the joint between the plaque and the granite.
On Saturday, December 4, Mike and two friends from the VFW post (where Mike is the Deputy Commander and Past Commander) drove down to Arlington. They took the marker, two different kinds of cement, 18 gallons of water, a morter bed, and tools. They met with the Historian there.
First, Mike dug a hole in front of our tree.
Next, they poured in two sacks of Sackrete. They waited until that was nearly set, then poured in about 2" of special mortar on top of that. When that was like a thick cake batter they sat the granite marker in so that the Sackrete was supporting most of the weight, and the granite was only about 1/2 inch into the mortar to stabilize it. The natural gravity automatically leveled the marker on the constructed base. We had drilled the bottom center of the marker to accept a 3/8" steel rod that goes down through the mortar and into the cement to immobilize the marker if it should be bumped by grass cutters etc.
When the work was done, the three Army volunteers proudly (and shivering) stood for a pic.
We are very grateful for their assistance.
Here's a closeup of the marker in place.
I mentioned that the Historian of Arlington, Tom Sherlock, met them at the site and watched for a while. Mike said with the wind chill factor it "felt like minus 000 degrees." Tom said he'd be in his office if they needed him. He liked the plaque, and shared his observation that it's clean and to the point and not cluttered and hard to read like many others.
Mike forgot the bag of bark mulch. Now he wants to go back down to place the bark mulch around our marker and the others in the vicinity.
Small point of interest: Mike and the guys had to remove the soil that they had dug out of the hole. Four wheelbarrows of dirt went into the back of the pickup, and they carried it back to Pennsylvania. What did they do with it? They lovingly placed it at their "Memorial Garden" in front of their VFW post---and are proudly telling everyone that they have dirt from Arlington National Cemetery there now.
Another USS BOSTON Shipmates achievement in which we can take pride.
Mike had the granite clamped to a picnic bench in his garage. First thing we learned was that we had to re-tap the threaded receptacles in the back of the plaque, so the blind screws would be truly secure.
Then we had to accurately locate where we were going to drill the granite. I had brought a template for that, and it worked quite well. Mike center-punched the exact spots, and we started drilling.
That's the rotary hammer drill that we bought to drill the granite bell base at the Boston Naval Shipyard. The drill bit goes round and round, and at the same time it's pounding like a jack hammer. Mike has drilled a lot of gravestones with conventional drills and carbide masonry bits. He was amazed when I drilled holes 2" deep in about 15 seconds---about like drilling wooden beams. He's accustomed to taking 5 minutes per hole. This is the beauty of a rotary hammer drill.
We drilled pilot holes with a 1/4" bit, then we expanded the holes to 3/8". The yellow triangular square is there to help keep the drill bit perpendicular to the granite face. The granite marker weighs about 135 pounds.
Next we carefully tried the plaque, with four blind screws, to be absolutely sure that the screws lined up with the holes (I crossed my fingers).
Mike has worked on over 4,000 veteran gravestones and markers, and numerous commemorative plaques. The process is, you screw threaded rods (or blind screws) into the back of the plaque, pour liquid epoxy into the holes in the granite, then mount the plaque with the screws (with epoxy liberally applied) to the face of the granite. Oh---and you also apply Liquid Nails to the back of the plaque. For better or worse, we were working with epoxy with a 5 minute working time. 5 minutes goes by pretty fast.
All of a sudden things were getting away from us and the epoxy was setting up. Finally, it was in place. (Note that we were working with thin gloves on, to prevent getting corrosive sweat or skin oils on the plaque or the granite.)
Finally, Mike applied a sealing bead of silicone around the while plaque, and the joint between the plaque and the granite.
On Saturday, December 4, Mike and two friends from the VFW post (where Mike is the Deputy Commander and Past Commander) drove down to Arlington. They took the marker, two different kinds of cement, 18 gallons of water, a morter bed, and tools. They met with the Historian there.
First, Mike dug a hole in front of our tree.
Next, they poured in two sacks of Sackrete. They waited until that was nearly set, then poured in about 2" of special mortar on top of that. When that was like a thick cake batter they sat the granite marker in so that the Sackrete was supporting most of the weight, and the granite was only about 1/2 inch into the mortar to stabilize it. The natural gravity automatically leveled the marker on the constructed base. We had drilled the bottom center of the marker to accept a 3/8" steel rod that goes down through the mortar and into the cement to immobilize the marker if it should be bumped by grass cutters etc.
When the work was done, the three Army volunteers proudly (and shivering) stood for a pic.
We are very grateful for their assistance.
Here's a closeup of the marker in place.
I mentioned that the Historian of Arlington, Tom Sherlock, met them at the site and watched for a while. Mike said with the wind chill factor it "felt like minus 000 degrees." Tom said he'd be in his office if they needed him. He liked the plaque, and shared his observation that it's clean and to the point and not cluttered and hard to read like many others.
Mike forgot the bag of bark mulch. Now he wants to go back down to place the bark mulch around our marker and the others in the vicinity.
Small point of interest: Mike and the guys had to remove the soil that they had dug out of the hole. Four wheelbarrows of dirt went into the back of the pickup, and they carried it back to Pennsylvania. What did they do with it? They lovingly placed it at their "Memorial Garden" in front of their VFW post---and are proudly telling everyone that they have dirt from Arlington National Cemetery there now.
Another USS BOSTON Shipmates achievement in which we can take pride.
