Stone cut properly, by people here in Tulsa.
Granite and bronze memorials, custom stone carving, cemetery restoration and architectural work. Granites from around the world, cut and finished for the family in front of us.
You do not need to know what you want yet.
Most people who call us have never bought a memorial before, and are doing it in a week when they are already tired. There is nothing you need to bring and nothing you need to have decided. Call, and we will start from wherever you are.
If you know the cemetery, tell us the name when you call. Cemeteries differ on what size and what material they allow, and knowing which one you are working with lets us point you at the designs that will actually be permitted there.
Not only headstones.
A good deal of our work stands outside cemeteries: church signs, garden benches, statue bases, lettering cut into buildings. It is the same trade either way, and the same hands.
Monuments and markers
Upright tablets, flat markers and custom shapes, in granites brought in from around the world. Marble as well. Our design catalogue runs to dozens of patterns, and none of them has to be used as drawn.
Bronze markers
Single and double bronze, veterans markers, infant markers, cremation markers, and photo montage bronzes that carry a portrait and the objects of a life on one plate.
Custom stone carving and design
Where a piece does not exist yet, we draw it and cut it. Sandblasting and laser etching for lettering, portraits, scenes and emblems.
Cemetery restoration
Older stones lean, sink, discolour and lose their lettering. We work on graves that have been standing a very long time, including ones no family is left to look after.
Architectural embellishment
Cut and carved stone for buildings and grounds. Statue bases fabricated and installed, as at the Kirk of the Hills Meditation Garden here in Tulsa.
Statuary, ordered for you
Figures in marble, granite and bronze. These we source rather than carve, and we will set them on a base made here.
Designs to start from, not to be held to.
These are drawn from our own catalogue. Common tablet sizes are 24 by 16 inches and 24 by 36 inches, and flat markers 24 by 12 and 36 by 12, though the cemetery has the final say on what will fit.
Any of these can be changed. Different stone, different proportions, a different scene, lettering in another language. The drawing is agreed with you before anything is cut.
A whole life fits on one stone, if it is cut well.
Etching is where a memorial stops being a name and a pair of dates. A stretch of river with deer standing in it. A church. A tractor. The dog. Whatever the person actually spent their days near.
We letter and etch in our own shop, by sandblasting and by laser, and the design goes back to you to approve before the stone is touched. If you want lettering in a language other than English, say so at the start and it is no trouble.
Where the cemetery only allows a flat marker.
Many cemeteries now permit nothing standing. Bronze on a granite base is what most of them do allow, and it carries far more detail than people expect.
We also make bronze markers for infants, and for cremation. If you are not sure what your cemetery permits, call and tell us its name. We will find out rather than have you do it.
The same trade, on a wall instead of a stone.
Churches and businesses around Tulsa come to us for cut stone signage, because a sandblasted letter in stone still looks right in thirty years and a plastic one does not.
St. Dunstan's Episcopal Church, Faith United Methodist, Skiatook Christian Church, Countertop Specialties. Lettering, emblems and full stone monument signs, made and installed.
Benches, boulders and birdbaths.
Some families would rather have something to sit on than something to stand in front of. These go in gardens, churchyards and memorial gardens as often as they go in cemeteries.
Four steps, and we take the awkward ones.
Call, or come by
We are open by appointment, so ring first and we will set a time that suits you. Tell us the cemetery if you know it.
We check what is allowed
Every cemetery has its own rules on size, material and whether anything may stand upright. We deal with that so you are not choosing something that will be refused.
You approve the drawing
Nothing is cut until you have seen exactly how it will look and said yes to it. Changes at this stage cost nothing.
We make it and set it
Cut, lettered and finished, then delivered and installed. We will tell you the timing honestly once we know the stone and the cemetery.
The things nobody tells you.
What does a memorial cost?
It depends on three things: the size the cemetery permits, the stone itself, and how much carving, lettering and etching it carries. Granite from one part of the world costs differently from granite from another.
We do not publish a price list because it would be misleading. Tell us roughly what you have in mind and we will give you a real figure, and we will tell you plainly if there is a cheaper way to get the same result.
How long does it take?
It varies with the stone and with the cemetery. Some granite is on hand and some is brought in. Some cemeteries install the foundations themselves and work to their own schedule, and the ground has to be workable.
Rather than quote you a number that turns out to be wrong, we will give you a realistic timing once we know which stone and which cemetery, and we will tell you if it slips.
My cemetery says I have to buy the stone from them. Do I?
Generally not. A cemetery is entitled to set specifications that a memorial has to meet, on size, material and placement. It is a different matter to require that you buy it from them.
Tell us what you have been told and we will look at that cemetery's actual rules with you.
Can you add a date to a stone that is already there?
Yes. Adding a second date to an existing memorial is ordinary work and we do it regularly. We can also letter an existing stone that was left blank.
Can an old family stone be repaired?
Often, yes. Cemetery restoration is part of what we do. Old stones lean, sink into the ground, grow dark, and lose their lettering to weather.
Send us a photograph, or tell us where it stands, and we will tell you honestly whether it can be saved or whether you would be better served by a new one.
Can we match a stone that is already in the plot?
Yes. Matching an existing memorial for a spouse or a family plot is common. The closer we can get to the original, the more we need from you: photographs, the dimensions, and the cemetery and section.
Do you only work with cemeteries?
No. We make stone signage for churches and businesses, garden and memorial benches, statue bases, and carved and cut stone for buildings. If it is stone and it has to be right, it is worth asking us.
Come and put your hand on the stone.
Granite looks entirely different in daylight than it does on a screen, and the difference between two greys that photograph identically is obvious the moment you stand in front of them. It is worth the trip.
We are open by appointment only, so please call first and we will make sure someone is here with time for you rather than fitting you in between other things.
1735 East 11th Street
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74104
One block east of Utica on 11th Street
918-582-8600
info@benchmarkmonument.com