amyk
fully equipped rock polisher
I'm a slabber, I'm a cabber, I'm a midnight wrapper.
Member since January 2010
Posts: 1,331
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Post by amyk on Jun 25, 2011 19:11:34 GMT -5
a friend just brought me a piece of soapstone. My question is, can you slab it? and can you cab it?
I know it is used for carving. I don't want to ruin it if it can't be done.
Thanks for any suggestions.
Amy
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Post by jakesrocks on Jun 25, 2011 19:30:28 GMT -5
Soapstone is very soft. It could be slabbed and cabbed, but would be all but worthless as a jewelry stone, due to its softness. If you wanted to make a cab for display, I'd suggest roughing it out on your wheels, and finish it by hand sanding. Soapstone will take a nice polish. You could even carve a cab with a pocket knife.
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Post by mohs on Jun 25, 2011 21:23:02 GMT -5
I have this 2" slab it was cut thick because may have tendency to break when sawed I tried cutting some on my Workforce and it wanted to crumble plus a thin cab -- you could break with your hands but it probably will shine nice as mentioned Attachments:
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amyk
fully equipped rock polisher
I'm a slabber, I'm a cabber, I'm a midnight wrapper.
Member since January 2010
Posts: 1,331
|
Post by amyk on Jun 25, 2011 21:23:33 GMT -5
Thank you Jake, that answers my questions.
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Post by johnjsgems on Jun 26, 2011 8:22:55 GMT -5
I would save it for carving. You can use wood rasps or riffler files and hand sand with wet/dry sand paper.
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Post by mohs on Jun 26, 2011 16:19:38 GMT -5
a small piece I just tried polishing That is soapstone slab underneath to show the contrast fine scratches fill up quick with the white powdery talc-ish substance no problem detecting those scratches ! so it would take a really fine hand at grinding to reduce those fine scratches and get a shine that not hampered by the white smear I did this on Nova wheels and tried buffing with ZAM on cotton buff I think the ZAM cotton buff would bring up fine luster if I stayed with it interesting experiment... Attachments:
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