Bringing the past back to life

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Published on Monday, May 8, 2017

By Kate Jackman-Atkinson

The Neepawa Banner

At first glance, Brett Szucki’s hobby might seem a little unusual. Around his day job, you’ll find him in cemeteries and public squares, restoring headstones and other stone monuments that have been damaged by time.

Szucki, of Brookdale, started making new headstones 15 years ago, then trained as a memorialist and began working full time in the industry 10 years ago. He took a break and is now back at it, but not as a full-time business. Szucki operates under the name B & B Memorial Restoration and his work involves restoring granite and marble memorials, including cenotaphs, headstones and plaques.

In his business, Szucki chose to focus on the restoration of exiting memorials, instead of the sale of new ones. His speciality is the niche market of old and fragile memorials. He explains it’s gratifying to take something that looks old and weathered and restore it to its original beauty. “It looks as good as new,” he says of the finished product. Szucki notes he does a lot of work for Legions and other monuments related to veterans.

The restoration process begins with pressure washing the stone so that it’s clean, removing contaminants such as dust and sap. From there, he’ll use hand tools or sandblasting to restore the piece to its original condition. Some projects might also require painting. He notes that he was trained in the old techniques, “Everything we do is the same as it was in 1905,” he said. 

Serving a niche market has meant that Szucki has been able to work on a number of unique projects, which are the ones he most enjoys. “I take pride in doing stuff out of the ordinary,” he said.  One of his more memorable projects was restoring a man-made headstone. A fragile project, it required him to spend four hours laying on his stomach painting. He has also restored a number of statues on top of memorials, as well as one which was a mix of granite marble and brass. “It was all types of materials in one,” he said.

For those without a memorial to restore, Szucki’s business also does custom sandblasting jobs, such as gateposts with names, which he describes as another fun and creative outlet.