Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 12

Thread: Cutting and finishing soapstone

  1. #1
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Phelps, NY
    Posts
    312

    Cutting and finishing soapstone

    I picked up a few stone top lab tables from a school which is being renovated. I'd like to use them for countertops, but need to figure out the best way to cut them so that I can install a sink. I'm guessing the stone is either soapstone or slate - its dark grey/black and fairly soft. Has anyone worked with soapstone? What type of saw is required to cut it? Does it need to be sealed?

  2. #2
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    SouthCentral Oklahoma
    Posts
    5,236

    Re: Cutting and finishing soapstone

    A diamond saw will do soapstone just fine but carbide will do it cheaper if you don't have to cut toooooo much. I have seen a fair number of lab tables but never made of slate.

    If there are any cracks, crevices, pores, drilled holes, or ANYWHERE that liquid mercury could have lodged, you might want to consider pressure washing and baking. School labs over the years have had lots of broken mercury thermometers. So much so that some labs have had their floors replaced due to mercury vapors coming from the floors from the accumulated mercury contamination from years of broken thermometers. It doesn't take much mercury to be really bad news. the vapor pressure of mercury at normal room temps is such that it can contaminate an indoor air supply. Preparing food where mercury had been spilled would not be good.

    Better safe than sorry,

    Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
    "I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"

  3. #3
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Nova Scotia,Canada
    Posts
    3,108

    Re: Cutting and finishing soapstone

    As pat has mentioned, lab materials could be contaminated.

    Hg was a source of entertainment for many of us many years ago. There were many times the little globules were rolled about the table tops. Probably why many now considere me as a challenged person.

    Egon

  4. #4
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    SouthCentral Oklahoma
    Posts
    5,236

    Re: Cutting and finishing soapstone

    Hey Egon, I can recall my dad bringing home a globule of mercury in a plastic envelope (the kind built into old wallets) in his wallet to show me the quicksilver. Yes he held it in his hand as did I. It feels neat. I did it several times over several years. We didn't know any better till about the time I graduated from high school.

    Blowing up glass hydrogen generators isn't the only stupid thing students do in chemistry class. A university chem lab I was in had a student who was heating a container with a small quantity (1/4 teaspoon) of mercury with a bunsen burrner and watching it vanish into thin air. The same air that he was breathing as he wasn't using a fume hood. The same air we were all breathing in the lab. The instructor noticed and put a stop to it, making comments about how if his teeth got loose or his hair started to fall out he should see a doctor.

    I had a pretty bad alternating bout of fever and chills once. Bad enough for the doctor to tell my wife to put me in the bathtub with crushed ice and alcohol when my temp would spike. At random unpredictable intervals I would suddenly have chills and my teeth would chatter uncontrollably (I would bite on a bamboo chopstick to keep from chipping/breaking a tooth). Unfortunately a chill hit suddenly while my temp was being taken with a mercury thermometer and I chewed it up, glass and mercury, before I could react. At least I didn't swallow and I lowered my head in an attempt to prevent mercury from running down my throat. I think I got all or most of it. Others, thinking me mad as a hatter, disagree. (Mercury was used in the tanning of beaver pelts from which felt was made to make hats, hence the phrase mad as a hatter due to the high incidence of mercury poisoning induced madness in folks making hats.)

    Casual contact with liquid mercury is not advised but isn't super dangerous. I can recall several times seing others, and sometimes participating, rub a penny with mercury to make it shinny and silvery in appearance.

    Breathing fumes, even in small quantities is a BAD idea. Ingestion is a BAD idea.

    A good cleaning with antiseptic would get most anything that could be left behind from a bio lab and a pressure washing FIRST would remove most anything in gross quantities but I'd consider baking the slabs as well. I don't suggest you use your oven as anything driven out during baking could be something you don't want in your indoor air.

    I don't mean to rain on your parade, I'm trying to be responsible with regard to health and safety. I envy your find. I would be thrilled to get a deal on lab table tops like that. I'd clean and bake them but would definitely use them in my kitchen.


    [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
    "I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"

  5. #5
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    WA.
    Posts
    237

    Re: Cutting and finishing soapstone

    <font color="blue"> many now considere me as a challenged person. </font color>
    I may also be a member of that club. In high school chemistry we turned pennies into dimes and heated lttle tubes of red stuff until it was liquid and shiny and heated it some more until it was red stuff again.

  6. #6
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Phelps, NY
    Posts
    312

    Re: Cutting and finishing soapstone

    Pat,

    I'm happy to have the tables, but am a little disappointed to see my tax dollars at work. Most of the tables I purchased are only seven years old and were surplussed because the school is adding on a new wing for science and elected to buy all new furniture rather than relocate the existing. Along with the tables I also bought 5 oak base cabinets for the barn. I'll be going back in another week or so to pick up some additional table tops and cabinet bases.

    Thanks for the comments and cautions regarding mercury. It is unlikely that the tables have ever seen mercury - the schools around here no longer use mercury thermometers, and very rarely use anything other than graphite (pencils).

    The tops are 30"X72". If I end up using them as counters, I'll cut them to ~24" width and use the drop-off as a backsplash.

  7. #7
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    SouthCentral Oklahoma
    Posts
    5,236

    Re: Cutting and finishing soapstone

    Hey, sounds like a great deal for the buyer and a bad deal for the taxpayers.

    PAt [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
    "I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"

  8. #8
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    middle Missouri
    Posts
    297

    Re: Cutting and finishing soapstone

    Andy,

    Are you sure the tops are stone and not resin? All the lab bench tops in my department are a very dark stone-looking material which is actually a resin. Broken edges even look like stone. These things can be cut with regular saw bldes, but they do tend to eat up the blades rather quickly. I think actual stone tops are pretty rare, and have been for a number of years. Even some we have taken out which were several years old were this resin material. They are still nice tops, but I'm not sure about "baking" them. A thorough cleaning, perhaps using something like Lime-Away or one of the other products for removing iron and hard water stains might be a good idea. Such products might solubilize any mercury contaminant.

    Chuck

  9. #9
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Phelps, NY
    Posts
    312

    Re: Cutting and finishing soapstone

    Chuck,

    I haven't cut into the tops yet, so I can't say for sure that they are stone, but they are cold to the touch and the 36X72 table top weighs 100+lbs, so from weight and feel I was assuming they were stone.

    How heavy are the resin tops and are they cold to the touch?

  10. #10

    Re: Cutting and finishing soapstone

    The resin tops I had in labs have been very black. If the scientist new is stuff they are only 7 years old there shouldn't be any Hg contaminant. The resin needs a diamond blade.

    i'm a former high school chemistry teacher and now staff scientist for an analytical lab

    Larry
    Larry


Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •