Meet the craftsmen preserving DC’s monuments 1 letter at a time

In the D C region conversations often start with What do you do WTOP s series Working Capital profiles the people doing the work that makes the region unique While you may think you can t afford to make a mistake in your job the engravers that work on the local monuments memorials churches and museums can t either or else it ll be etched in stone forever One of the biggest questions I get is what happens when you mess something up And I inevitably say we don t declared Cameron Hawkins a stone engraver with Rugo Stone He and his colleague Juan Cabrera spend several hours prepping equipment and protectively taping stone before they even began the stonework Last month they continued work on an ever-evolving memorial in Downtown D C the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial They added over names to the permanent installation a process they do every year While the work takes several weeks of sandblasting to add the names the job genuinely starts months earlier when they begin making masks a type of stencil that allows them to protect the stone Sending it to the client making sure that everything looks good They check off on it and then we check our paperwork make sure every letter is right And then once we put it up measure again Once it s in place check the names again Reliably triple checking Hawkins disclosed Before the sandblasting begins they prepare protective equipment because sand is flying everywhere as they begin etching Hundreds of pounds of sand are loaded into their blaster and when it s turned on an air compressor shoots those tiny grains at a high enough speed to chip away at the stone It s tough because as you re blasting you can t really see there s sand everywhere So you have to go slow and check and make sure you re not going too deep or too shallow Hawkins reported The two have to communicate and work together to make sure their work is uniform and one is not sandblasting letters deeper into the stone than the other You ve got to be focused while you re working Cabrera noted While focus is key the reward is permanent I have mentors that have stated me something they did in their s and now they re they can go back and still look at it and that s really incredible Hawkins commented Rugo Stone has worked everywhere from the National Air and Space Museum to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and the Holocaust Museum even completing various contemporary restoration work at the Lincoln Memorial When they are able to work on significant projects like adding names of fallen officers to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial they see it is as a certain honor It s an honor for us to do this thing Cabrera stated We re not going to forget these people They give a life for us and keep us safe Source