# Tombstone question



## Coldshatter (Aug 29, 2013)

Good evening all.

I'm new and trying to create a small graveyard this year and running against the clock and behind as usual 

I have a question about making tombstones. I live in Oklahoma, so our Home Depot does not sell the foam boards any thicker than 1". From what I've read off and on, it seems most make their stones at least 2" thick. What are your thoughts on the thickness?

Also, since we only have them at 1" thickness...I bought two. If I do need to make the stones 2" thick, can anyone give some guidance on how to glue the boards together? What product is best and surely it would be almost impossible to cover every inch of it with glue? 

Thanks in advance for any tips/suggestions/feedback.

Regards!


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## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

I use great stuff foam to glue thinner pieces together. Spray the foam liberally across one board, then sandwich the spray foam with the other board. place on a flat level surface and weight it down. Walk away for about 30 minutes. When you come back, they will be glued together.

Personally, just for tombstones, I prefer 3 inch thickness. They seem to hold up to the elements better(read: The wind can't blow them over.) But that is just my personal preference.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

I've used gorilla glue to put two thinner pieces of foam together. As with Great Stuff, you need to weight it down while drying since the glue expands.

Hot Wire Foam Factory sells a glue that is specifically designed to work with foam products. Their hot wires also can cut through it once it's dry:

http://hotwirefoamfactory.com/product.php?productid=16200&cat=249&page=1


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## Hauntiholik (May 17, 2006)

I use foam fusion


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## CrazedLemming (Oct 18, 2011)

It seems like I've seen a few people mention Liquid Nails for sticking foam together, but I haven't had a chance to work on anything that needed thick foam so I haven't tried yet.

It sucks that we can't get the thick stuff in OK. I know a guy who called every supplier he could find around town when he was working on a construction project. The only ones willing to sell it would have had to special order it and it was going to be stupidly expensive.


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## Sawtooth Jack (Apr 9, 2011)

Gorilla glue. Just be sure to put some weight on the boards to hold them in place.


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## EyeballsStudio (Sep 17, 2013)

I use liquid nails. Works perfectly, and you don't need any weight or clamps during drying.


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## BugFreak (Oct 30, 2011)

Add me to the Gorilla glue list. The stuff works great and is pretty cost effective for how much you get.



RoxyBlue said:


> I've used gorilla glue to put two thinner pieces of foam together. As with Great Stuff, you need to weight it down while drying since the glue expands.
> 
> Hot Wire Foam Factory sells a glue that is specifically designed to work with foam products. Their hot wires also can cut through it once it's dry:
> 
> http://hotwirefoamfactory.com/product.php?productid=16200&cat=249&page=1


Nice link. Has anyone tried their hot knife product?


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## Coldshatter (Aug 29, 2013)

I appreciate all the comments/suggestions. @ CrazedLemming - OKC here too and yes it is a shame. It isn't like it never gets cold here!


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## Coldshatter (Aug 29, 2013)

Thought of one more additional question for you all -

whether you use liquid nail, great stuff, gorilla glue, etc. How do you apply it over the whole 4x8 foam board? Probably an odd question and I'm sure when I see the answer I'll smack myself with a "duh". Thanks in advance!


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## GCWyatt (Aug 30, 2012)

I've used a lot of different products and everyone's suggestions are great. Liquid Nails, Great Stuff, Gorilla Glue all work very well on EPS foam boards. I personally like to use glue that is especially designed to weld polystyrene, especially if I'm going to try to cut it after it's glued. Most other products will make it much harder to cut, almost impossible if you're using a hot wire cutter. There are a number of EPS welding products, but there's one from 3M *might* work best for you since it's an aerosol and will give you the coverage you're asking for. I emphasise *might* as I have not used it.

If you're having to create a laminated sheet anyway, you might want to consider embedding some short PVC pipes between the sheets (heh, "between the sheets") at the bottom of the prospective 'stone to receive a stake or rebar in the ground. Your gravestones will last much longer that way.


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## The Red Skull (Dec 23, 2010)

Hey there! 
Liquid nails or some equivalent construction adhesive that is safe for the foam is what I'd go with... they come in big tubes so that you can use a caulking gun to spread it. 

For foam tombstones, I've used 1" successfully but it depends on how long you're going to keep them out to determine how much abuse they have to put up with... a Few nights probably wont be an issue. If you are going to make a much larger tombstone, say 3 feet tall you may also have to go thicker, but I generally keep mine around 2 feet tall. 

For cutting and carving I've tried a couple techniques but now I use a soldering iron and get the most control....be careful of fumes though!! And a heat gun works wonders for final texturing and seams to make the surface more rigid, which will help with the 1 inch thick stones...

I use stakes driven in the ground to support them from behind anyway as that has been the most reliable way to keep them up. I've screwed through the wood into the back of the foam, and also used a thin wire through the tombstone from the back then back through from the front to "twist tie" around the stake.

Be Careful with aerosols as they may have solvents that are unsafe for foam.

(Have you been to the Castle of Muskogee?  )


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Coldshatter said:


> Thought of one more additional question for you all -
> 
> whether you use liquid nail, great stuff, gorilla glue, etc. How do you apply it over the whole 4x8 foam board? Probably an odd question and I'm sure when I see the answer I'll smack myself with a "duh". Thanks in advance!


I suppose you could just use a paint brush to spread it around after running a few lines of glue, but frankly, I've never bothered to do that. I've also never glued two whole sheets together at once.

A good point was made above about glue gumming up your hot wire if you use one (except the foam fusion product that's made specifically for that purpose). To bypass that issue and save on glue as well, you can always cut your pieces out first, then glue them together.


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## discozombie (Jun 21, 2012)

I had found a youtube video a while back that tested every glue and Glidden Gripper paint primer worked the best. If I remember correctly


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## RowlandHarris (Sep 11, 2009)

I've used a liquid nails type of "foam safe" adhesive and it worked great.

Re. your second question, I would not glue the whole lengths together. Cut them to the size you want and then glue them. I'd just do a zigzag glue line, then around the outer boundary. Also, while you're joining them, you may want to build in a slot for two short rebars that you can pound into the ground and then push the tombstones over the rebar. You'll want at least 6" going into the tombstone and 6" going into the ground. 

One more thing - save the small pieces that you cut off. Those can be used as 'trim' around the perimeter of the stone to make it look more 3D.


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## SPOOKY J (Nov 20, 2009)

This year Im using Glidden Gripper. My stones are 2 1/2" (2" with 1/2" gripper glued) to 3" (2" with 1" grippered). I cut down the sheets first with my table saw. Then usee gripper to bond them together. I weighted them down and left them for 48 hours before carving.


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## GCWyatt (Aug 30, 2012)

EyeballsStudio just joined HauntForum and posed his How To showing the assembly of some 'stones he made for a local zoo. They are terrific, and it looks like he used thinner sheets of EPS glued together, but with the different layers cut to form a dimensional headstone. It's worth a look, and his technique would allow you to use thinner foam while creating awesome 'stones.
http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=37132


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## Coldshatter (Aug 29, 2013)

Yeah. Love his tutorial. I reallllly reallllly appreciate all the feedback/tips/help. I used to dremel carve styrofoam pumpkins until my diabetes started messing with my eyes. I was at the level of doing multi shading levels, but can't do the detail cuts any longer. Soo...carving these tombstones will give me some of that fun again.  Love Halloween. Love the weather this time of year. Leaves turning, cooler weather, football. Oh, and @ TRS - I have been in the area of the Muskogee Castle but never have been able to stop. I hope to do that sometime


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## The Red Skull (Dec 23, 2010)

I joust at the Castle of Muskogee in the spring, but now is the time to visit with their Haunted Castle attraction running. BIG haunt!


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## Doc Doom (Aug 28, 2008)

Like others have said, I'd first cut out the shapes you want and then glue them together using Liquid Nails for foam projects by running a bead around the entire outer edge and also a zig-zaggy pattern across the body. 

One more thing you may want to consider is how you are going to anchor them to the ground? I suggest making them 3" (three layers) thick. Cut two vertical slots about 12"-18" tall and 1" wide in the middle piece. Spacing between the slots depends on the with of the final stone. Glue a piece of 3/4" PVC pipe in each of the slots. To anchor the stone, pound two rebar stakes in the ground (at the correct spacing) and simply slip the PVC pipes over the stakes.


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## pagan (Sep 9, 2009)

Hmm.. Maybe I have just been lucky, but I just use spray adhesive from the craft store and some gold grabber screws through the back to hold everything together. No one sees the backs anyhow and the distressing/painting process hides everything well. I have some stones 5 years old and have not had any delamination yet.


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## hubcapsally (Oct 9, 2013)

I have also used liquid nails as well as 3M Super 77 spray adhesive - both with good results. I weigh things down just for good measure. I think in an instance of gluing 2 large sheets together that a spray adhesive would get better coverage for less $$


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## niblique71 (Dec 2, 2009)

discozombie said:


> I had found a youtube video a while back that tested every glue and Glidden Gripper paint primer worked the best. If I remember correctly Styro Wars: Styrofoam Glue Tests - YouTube


My Two Cents.... I agree with EVERYTHING in her video test. Her results match my experiences exactly.... Liquid Nails can be used for "Edge-on" or Angled Connections but I still like Glidden Gripper for large flat surfaces.


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## CrazedLemming (Oct 18, 2011)

I tried the glidden gripper a couple days ago to stick 3 or 4 layers together. It seems like they came out pretty solid. As far as glue application methods go, brushing a thick layer of latex paint on one side and slapping the parts together was about as easy as it gets.


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## pagan (Sep 9, 2009)

Lemming.. Just latex paint? No additive or anything? Thats awesome! Thanks for the tip man!


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## CrazedLemming (Oct 18, 2011)

pagan said:


> Lemming.. Just latex paint? No additive or anything? Thats awesome! Thanks for the tip man!


It's the Glidden Gripper primer that's been mentioned in the thread and in the video posted by discozombie. It's latex/acrylic paint designed to prime/seal a lot of different surfaces. http://www.glidden.com/products/gripper-primer-white.do

And I may have spoken a little too soon on my experiment with it. Cutting the foam released some wet paint which was a bit of a mess, but everything was still holding together.


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## Eerie Erie Haunts (Oct 8, 2013)

I'm doing my first tombstones this year, too. I tried Glidden Gripper after watching Terra's video, but I prefer Gorilla Glue. It's incredibly strong, and it's dry in two HOURS, not two DAYS. I pour a thick bead, then spread it around using an old gift card. Works a lot better than a paintbrush.


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## hubcapsally (Oct 9, 2013)

that's a great test video niblique71...I just may have to return my Super 77 I just bought & try out the Gripper!


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## Coldshatter (Aug 29, 2013)

I appreciate all the feedback/advice. Trying to get the cemetary fence painted and finished by this weekend because I have two sheets of foam board calling my name and looking at everyone's tombstones on here just motivates me. Plus, it's supposed to be fun making your own stuff, right???


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