Schist countertops

[Old Coastie]

Repeat customer, wants me
To spiff up her countertops. 39’ of schist, aged and somewhat flaked. This is to sell the house. So: Hone and polish, or just polish and hope it looks okay? I’ve done marble, but not schist and don’t know what to expect or how to price it. Also, there are chips on the edges. Suggestions, please.

 

[Mikey P]

You got to be shysting me...

 

[hogjowl]

Toothpaste and a dremel tool

 

[clean image]

well, doesnt appear to have any calcium in it, so can not compound polish like TML. likely need mb20?

repairs, need to put a light on it to see how translucent it is. that will dictate repair material for best results. Repairs would have to coinside with honing so they can be flattened and smoothed. the bullnose repairs will be fun...

May want to provide test sample....

 

[Old Coastie]

Carl the second picture above has an edge repair the installer made, it is an opaque grey. Looks like crap. Would Fill-a-Chip fix that and the one in the first picture (above)?

I think polish would add a bit of gloss, but the surface is lightly flaked all over. So I did a sample piece. Honing works best (of course), DIP leves a shine (but the surface is orange peel and scratches remain) and polishing doesn’t look enough better to be worth charging for.

1: Worn surface


2: Polish only


3: DIamond impregnated pads, orange peel surface


4: Honed surface

 

[clean image]

hey Stephen,

BTW, the diamond section looks good what did u end with?

how well did it cut? did you use marble or granite diamonds?

Its a counter, so worry about PFs, so you can go high as possible with diamonds.

do you have mb20? hard rock has something comperable to i think.

cant use traditional polishes for TML (trav, marble,limestone) on non calcite stone, dont do anything- any we found out

DIP suck for most work . although have there small space

To test traslucence, we carry strion led($100) and put straight doen on top. if is at all tranluscent, going to want to use glasier from bonestone. it is not easiest to work with . if not then use your fav poly and use multiple colors.

 

[Old Coastie]

hey Stephen,

BTW, the diamond section looks good what did u end with?

how well did it cut? did you use marble or granite diamonds?

Its a counter, so worry about PFs, so you can go high as possible with diamonds.

do you have mb20? hard rock has something comperable to i think.

cant use traditional polishes for TML (trav, marble,limestone) on non calcite stone, dont do anything- any we found out

DIP suck for most work . although have there small space

To test traslucence, we carry strion led($100) and put straight doen on top. if is at all tranluscent, going to want to use glasier from bonestone. it is not easiest to work with . if not then use your fav poly and use multiple colors.

Carl, I just saw your post. I used marble pads on the schist to hone the sample, so it isn’t a bright result.
I spoke with Cameron DeMille and we settled on what to use. Put in my bid and ordered the stuff to be ready to begin tomorrow (Monday).
Heard nothing on the quote... until this afternoon, when I get a text that they want a fraction of the work I quoted, argh!
But at least I have the tools to handle granite now. And I picked up several varieties of granite to practice on, since it has been a while since I learned.
I’ll begin the job on Tuesday and see how it all goes.