Securing Badge to Gravestone

[Pete Janke]

Many years ago, my friend and fellow Officer was killed in the line of duty. Our department had his badge secured to his gravestone with what looked to me as epoxy. The badge was stolen, leaving a lump of epoxy on the stone. Any ideas on how to secure another badge to the stone, with less of a chance of theft? It is a curved, 7-point, star type badge, probably stamped out of brass, like the one here.291583

[Steve Peterson]

The only way I could think of mounting it would be to inset in into the stone so that there are no edges to get a pry bar under. I think it would need to be set into a cutout that is at least 1/2" deep and completely filled with epoxy or other glue.

Steve

[Brett Robson]

Insetting it into the stone would probably be best, but epoxying a flat wallet badge might also work. A flat badge would be harder to get a tool behind as opposed to a curved uniform badge.

[Raymond Fries]

Is it possible to drill small holes at the points of the star tips and use anchors with long screws like the kind that you can not unscrew. You see them on security doors.

it is a sick thing for someone to do and I am sorry your friend's gravestone was defaced.

Good Luck getting it fixed up!

[Randy Henry]

Between theft/vandalism and weather related issues, while it is a very nice touch, long term it will not hold up. My suggestion would be to contact a person who does sandblasting on already installed headstones, and get a price for what it be to get a badge sandblasted into the stone. Will be permanent, and will look just as nice.

[Mark Bolton]

Weather aside, and the badge is I guess plated since it's brass so may not work, but a cool way to do it would be to make a template slightly larger than the badge, have a recess sandblasted or chiseled into the face of the stone, brazed a pin sticking off the back of the badge, drill a hole in the center of the recess in the stone, and adhere the badge with enough chemical bond anchoring epoxy to grab the pin and fill the back cavity of the badge.

The recess would prevent it from being pried off and with that much epoxy you'd have to chisel the face of the stone off to get it off.

The killer is brazing the pin on and having the badge re-plated.

You'd think a badge supplier would either have badges specifically for this purpose or could custom order you something like that.

Just an idea.

[Pete Janke]

Thanks for the ideas, guys. I like the idea of the recess. I will be doing some research.

[Chuck Wintle]

Thanks for the ideas, guys. I like the idea of the recess. I will be doing some research.

I was wondering if it would be possible to carve an inset in the stone such that the entire badge will fit into it and undercut the edges of the inset, glue the badge into the inset with a bit of hot glue and then fill the inset and badge with lucite? The same material they use for desktop work anniversary awards?

[Frank Drew]

I agree with Chuck's suggestion; people have photos inset into gravestones and the "window" remains clear. Something similar could be done with a badge.