I have white macauba and there is no etching with it. I have gotten some oil stains around the range but no etching anywhere.
I'd be very reluctant to choose that stone based on the stains and marking but that's based on my lifestyle and my personal desire to have lower maintenance options.

I just had Aqua Veneto Quartzite installed and did all the tests you have done prior. Everything passed beautifully but I did get a slight hint of staining with red wine which I was able to remove with a poultice of baking soda and water covered with plastic wrap. I did not get any etching or stains with the other tests. My sample of the stone also was not sealed when I did the tests. I put on some sealer 511 and also granite yard gave me some bullet proof sealer to try also on my sample. I did all the tests again and everything passed, even the red wine. I did not leave the red wine on though overnight, just a few hours.

Prior to me finding the Aqua Venato I took home a sample of Dolce Vita that I was told was Quartzite and everything stained and etched which looked exactly like what your stains and etching looks like and it cut a glass tile with no problem. The stains and etching happened with the Dolce Vita in a short period of time also, I think I checked it about and hour or so after putting everything on it.

I am so glad that I read everyone posts, Karins info on stone and about the testing procedure prior to looking and purchasing my stone. It was so helpful.

Is that photo enhanced? Those results look worse than anything I tested on marble samples! I suspect that using a sealer will help avoid the worst of the staining, but not the etching. Is this a polished or honed stone? You may want to see if you can buff out the etches with a scotch-brite pad or magic eraser.

Yikes! That's a little scary! I personally would not want that stone in my kitchen. I don't think I've ever left something sit overnight on my granite, but with growing kids & a husband I wouldn't chance it with a stone like that. GL in your continued search!

Just wanted to share I did a test on Mystery white quartzite and soy sauce ruined it. I picked stuff that I knew I used but ketchup and A1 sauce passed. : ) Thought I'd share since no one ever tests soy sauce lol.
I'm ending up going with Calacatta Marble which fails everything but I'm in love. ; )

I have white macaubus quartzite. I agree that some macaubus slabs are really ugly; it took me a long time to find a pretty one. There's also the cross-cut of macaubus called calacutta (sp?) quartzite you might want to try to find.

I have discovered old soy sauce, a dark marinade, and port wine on my stone, left over night, or maybe for days. "Yikes!" I thought. Well, all of those things wiped up with just a tiny dab of water on a paper towel. No baking soda or anything else was needed. And no etching. I treat it like granite as far as cleaning and sealing. It's been a good hard-working stone that needs no babying.

Maybe the sample you have is marble or a mix of materials. I think with the popularity of white stone, a lot of slabs are being mislabeled and sold as quartzite, knowingly or not.

Do you like River White? I remember seeing some pretty slabs of that when I was hunting for the macaubus.

Thanks for all of the great and helpful responses and sorry for the delay in responding again, I was at the job site all day. I suppose what really made me question my results is that the slab yard (a very experienced, reputable one!) promised it was a quartzite. I almost wasn't going to test it, but of course thanks to GW I knew better :) I was shocked at the results. And no, the photo isn't enhanced at all and the stone is polished (not honed). I left the substances on there overnight, and while the slab yard may have thought that was excessive (!), I felt it accurately represented what we might experience in my home. My DH often has a glass of red wine at night and I might not see any spills until the morning (he's not a drunk, but he is sloppy!).

I met with the fabricator today and he smugly promised me that if this slab of quartzite etched, all of them would (incl white macaubus). He actually got mad at me that I wouldn't trust him on that point, and I didn't even reveal how much I knew from GW and Karin. Instead I just politely repeated my request for a sample of macaubus. Reading all of your responses gives me confidence that I will find the right slab that *will* pass the tests.

Honestly I would have made a huge mistake on slab selection were it not for GW, so I thank y'all again for your input and that of many others on GW regarding quartzite (and every other aspect of the kitchen!).

My DH picked up the macaubus sample this afternoon so I'll test it overnight tonight and hope for better results. The slab they have is probably one of the least attractive slabs of WM I've seen, but the tests will be helpful nonetheless.

No issue w the Taj M quartzite. I've found spots left on my island over night but all cleaned up well. I try to be careful with olive oil dripping and lingering for a while. Prob not necessary but I'm more comfortable with this abundance of caution.

If it is WM and sealed (or you can seal your sample quickly with a sealer from the hardware store), then I think you will have a good sample for testing.

I have had absolutely no issues with my WM (even with the port!), and if you like the cross-cut one better, it's the same stone, so I would think it would hold up the same. WM has that stripey pattern, and the cross-cut one has a more swirly pattern.

If this really is the stone you want, you might have to do some hunting. It took me a while to find a pretty slab for my island; I was looking for subtle colorations, no jaggedy crazy thick black lines.

I was frustrated after a trip to the 3 stone places that my GC sent me to. So I had to figure out a better strategy. I took a whole day off work, got an after-school sitter and hit the road, visiting every single stoneyard that google gave me in the Houston area. After that I eliminated almost all of them, settling on 3 yards that seemed like someone there knew what WM was, and had a friendlyish sales person who said they would text/email when WM came in.

1 week later, there were 3 slabs of absolutely gorgeous WM at one yard, so I put one on hold for my island. Done. Well that yard did not honor my 7-day hold and sold all three slabs to someone else 3 days later. My GC was arranging the transport of the slab to the fabricator when they told him. Ugh.

Fast forward 3 weeks, a friendly sales person from one of the other yards had stayed in touch with me and would email me when she learned that there was going to be a shipment on WM. She even had her buyer from Brazil email pics to her and she would forward them to me. This went on for a couple of weeks.

She texted me that there were some 3 cm slabs of WM coming in. I went down to see the slabs and they were horrible, huge yucky thick black lines. Just ugly.

1 week later she said there were some 2 cm slabs that just arrived. I wanted 3 cm, but I went down to see. I found a nice 2 cm slab with subtle coloration and no big thick black lines. Now it's in my kitchen.

And I didn't have to buy it from the mean stone people who "stole" by original slab.

The rest of the kitchen was pretty much done by the time I finally found my WM and got it installed. So for several weeks we just used the plywood island that I asked my GC to install so that I could cook and feed the kids.

River White was my next choice if I hadn't been able to find WM.

Please let use know how your tests go with the sample.

Hi Nancy,

Interesting test results, thanks for sharing them with us since we all learn from each other. It makes me happy to see that the geology threads have been so useful to folks.

So, about your White Pearl. I have seen a similar thing with Super White, where some parts of the stone scratched glass (weakly, but it did definitely scratch the glass) but it also etched. When I really studied it, I could see some quartz among the dolomite. That is not typical and it makes diagnosis more difficult.

So from that we all learn that the scratch test and the etch test are both necessary. Your case is even more compelling because the etching looks really bad.

Good for you to carry out the testing and to stand firm with the fabricator. It's quite possible that they weren't being dishonest but they genuinely thought it was quartzite. This is almost forgivable given the conflicting test results. Almost.

But you are doing everything right, even if you do find yourself in some uncomfortable moments with the fabricator. I'm so glad you have the shoulders of the collective GW wisdom to stand on. Nice work!

Keep us posted on the Macaubus and any other slabs you come across. Good luck!

Karin

ssdarb I know this is an old thread but I live in Spring, TX so I'm hoping you can tell me which slab yards you had luck with in the Houston area. Thanks!