Return to the Kitchens Forum
| Post a Follow-Up
Names of hard soapstone
| | |
Posted by
pluckymama (
My Page) on
Tue, Jul 15, 08 at 6:35
| I see mention of people having hard or soft soapstone, but don't know which ones are which. Can you list the names of soapstones that are known to be harder and less prone to dings? Pics would be great too. Thanks. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Names of hard soapstone
| | |
"Church Hill" from Alberene, for one. Very hard and dark. Buy American soapstone!! (waves flag, LOL)
Casey |
RE: Names of hard soapstone
| | |
| I didn't know they were quarrying soapstone in the USA anymore. Can you tell us about it? |
RE: Names of hard soapstone
| | |
| I have Green Mountain Original and love it. Soft to touch but not soft to scratch or ding. Holding the dark oiled look a long , long time. The main company is in Vermont. I found a local fabricator that sells it. Contact the company and they will help you find it locally. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Green Mountain Original
RE: Names of hard soapstone
| | |
| Any other soapstones that are soft to touch but hard enough that they don't scratch or ding easily. |
RE: Names of hard soapstone
| | |
| I have Minas and it is very hard. Sorry, don't have pics yet. I'm in So. Cal. and got it from Tom Shadley. |
RE: Names of hard soapstone
| | |
| Alberene Soapstone is quarried in Virginia. http://www.alberenesoapstone.com/flavors/ Hope this helps........ |
RE: Names of hard soapstone
| | |
| This link may be helpful: |
Here is a link that might be useful: Soap Stone descriptions
RE: Names of hard soapstone
| | |
| We have Mariana from Walker-Zanger. Very hard. |
RE: Names of hard soapstone
| | |
| The soapstone descriptions were helpful. Are there certain soapstones that come in larger slabs and don't need as many seams? |
RE: Names of hard soapstone
| | |
| It all depends on where you get the stone. Some places have it in larger slabs. You get what is locally available at the time. We had 3 slabs of 102" x 30". In our kitchen that meant only one seam where two slabs met in a corner "L". The only slabs that were available at the time we did our kitchen were 30" wide. Hence our island is exactly 29-7/8" wide. Check what you require vs. what is available when you want it. -Babka |
RE: Names of hard soapstone
| | |
| Harder stuff would be P.A. (I think they call it original P.A. now)from Green Mountain Soapstone. Two varieties that come in big slabs are light Julya and Dark Julia. |
RE: Names of hard soapstone
| | |
Here's my take on it..
Harder soapstones-
Brazilian Black, Julia, Santa Barbara, Cobra, Python, Mumbai Grey, Belvedere, Rainforest Green, Brazilian Nights, Pietra Grigio, and I also agree with the others mentioned already above.. Keep in mind that there are "hardness" variations between all of the stones since they are a product of nature and different sections of the quarries can produce harder stone. as far as size- The Indian soapstone (Cobra, Python and Mumbai Grey) and Santa Barbara as far as I know only comes in smaller slabs around 26x80 with a lot of varying sizes either larger or smaller by a few inches. The other varieties I mentioned come in larger slabs maybe around 60x100 and greater depending on the stone. We have some Brazilian Black that are around 70x117 which is HUGE in soapstone. The quarries for some reason do not invest in the equipment to go "big" like the granite guys. |
RE: Names of hard soapstone
| | |
| Our slab of Beleza was 120x60 which apparently was extremely large. Most of the slabs at Dorado Soapstone in Austin were smaller. They had one group of the larger slabs when we bought ours in May. |
RE: Names of hard soapstone
| | |
Alberene, Church Hill looks like this after 9 months, unoiled:
 and:
 Casey |
RE: Names of hard soapstone
| | |
| This is so helpful. Thanks for the pics and informative posts. It gives me quite a few soapstones to look into. |
RE: Names of hard soapstone
| | |
| Here something might be useful a video about soft and hard soapstone http://bit.ly/soapstonesoftvshardvideo Soapstone Hardness Levels
The stone industry has issued a MOHS scale of harness. Here it is:
Talc (Mg3Si4O10(OH)2) 1
Gypsum (CaSO4�2H2O) 3
Calcite (CaCO3) 9
Fluorite (CaF2) 21
Apatite (Ca5(PO4)3(OH-,Cl-,F-)) 48
Orthoclase Feldspar (KAlSi3O8) 72
Quartz (SiO2) 100
Topaz (Al2SiO4(OH-,F-)2) 200
Corundum (Al2O3) 400
Diamond (C) 1600
Soapstone is between a 1-4 on the MOHS scale.
Here is the breakdown of our types of soapstone and their ranking on the hardness scale:
Minas � 2
Porto Alegre � 2
Sao Luis � 4
Brazilian Duro � 2-4 ( this is a funny stone, some of the stone is very hard and some of it is much softer. This needs to be tested container/container).
Verde Minas � 4
Minas Duro � 4
Jucca � 2
Iguazu � 4
(Note: to see these soapstones images click here >> http://bit.ly/hHuZUK (videos available too)
Granites are generally a 4-6
SileStone, HanStone, CeaserStone � 6-7
Corian � 3-4 |
Post a Follow-Up
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in.
If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Kitchens Forum
Instructions
- You must be a registered member and logged in to post messages on our forums.
- Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review the contents and make changes.
- After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
- It is illegal to post copyrighted material without the owner's consent.
- HTML codes are allowed in the message field only.
- No advertising is allowed in any of the forums.
- If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
- If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.
