Cutting and finishing soapstone

[Pat]

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]

[AndyF]

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.

[Pat]

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

PAt [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Chuck52]

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

[AndyF]

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?

[lmassom]

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

[Chuck52]

Andy,

The resin tops look, to me at least, like stone. They are very heavy, black, and cold to the touch. You might be able to chip off a hidden corner and see what it looks like at a broken edge. They're probably more reslient, that is less brittle, than stone. I thought we cut some with a circular saw using a non-diamond blade, but I could be wrong about that. I do think the last poster was right about the Hg. If the tops are that new, it is unlikely they ever saw mercury.

Chuck

[AndyF]

Tried a carbide blade on the tables yesterday and the tables are probably a little too tough for carbide - lots of sparks when the blade made contact.

Any suggestions on alternatives short of a diamond blade? The blade was a cheapo DeWalt framing blade in a DeWalt circular saw.