Engraving the Victim's Names
Five large granite blocks will encircle the centerpiece
statues. These blocks will be rough and irregular, but will have
polished faces. The names of ALL 9/11 victims will be engraved
on the polished surface.
These granite blocks, valued at over $60,000, have been
donated by the Virginia Mist Group (a division of Stone Vogue
International -
www.stonevogue.com).
The process of preparing and engraving the stones consists of
several steps:
- Three granite blocks are selected and at the quarry in
Virginia. Stephen Shaheen has made several trips to the site
to inspect the blocks and make sure they are suitable for
the Project.
- The irregular blocks are then cut in half, creating a
flat surface. The result is six blocks, five of which will
be used for the memorial.
- The blocks are shipped to Granite Importers, Inc., of
Barre Vermont (www.graniteimporters.com).
- At the facility in Vermont, the blocks are cut again to
allow them to sit safely on a surface.
- The flat surfaces of the rocks are then polished using
large industrial polishing machines. Granite Importers is
one of only a few facilities in the world capable of
polishing a surface of this size. The end result is a dark,
mirror-like surface suitable for name engraving.
- After polishing, John Pelkey of Mobile Sand Blasting and
Gino Tosi work together to prepare for the engraving
process. Digital images are used to calculate the exact
surface dimensions of each of the blocks. Mr. Tosi then
begins to layout the 2,976 names on a computer model of the
blocks.
- After carefully laying out the names, a rubber stencil
is mechanically created and affixed to the polished surface
of the blocks.
- A special sand-blasting process then removes stone only
where the stencil is empty. The result is the engraved name
of each victim.
- The stencil is then removed and the blocks are cleaned.
A view of unfinished granite
blocks in Virginia
|
Stephen Shaheen at SVI’s
Virginia Mist Quarry |
A view of one of the polished surfaces
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Shaheen works with experts to layout
and create the rubber stencils |
Continue to Project
Timeline »
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