Mauricio ~ Many, many thanks for all your extremely helpful comments on this site, and elsewhere in the ether (e.g. findstone). The process of learning about soapstone and the stone industry in the US has been quite an education — yesterday's discovery: these days, Vermont soapstone often comes from Brazil! Anyhow, I certainly support your efforts to have some kind of accredation system set up for stone countertop fabricators. My Qs: We are planning to get soapstone countertops for our smallish galley kitchen (c 25 sq feet of stone) in our condo unit near Washington DC. Thanks to some of your comments elsewhere I've learned that a piece of "Pietra Cardoso" that one stoneyard/fabricator showed us was actually unlikely to be soapstone — and this acid-averse stone would make a poor choice for a kitchen countertop. To this fabricator's credit, this appeared to be an honest mistake on an odd piece that I asked about after seeing three other slabs, and this company does make a point of reinforcing behind the sink cutout with a metal bar epoxied in. At this point, we are considering a piece of "Light Venata" soapstone from Brazil, which appears genuine — although at this point I'm a bit concerned that we're really calling a duck a duck. I do have a sample of the "Light Ventana" which I mineral oiled (once), and which appears not to have been stained by the Mediteranean flavors of lemon, pomegranite juice, coffee, or red wine. Besides the "Light Ventana" we also are considering a handsome, cleanly cut slab at another stone yard that is labeled "Green Soapstone" and sourced to "Italy." After seeing some comments on the Nuance site from Seattle, though, I have my doubts about whether this is truly a soapstone — or instead is an Italian granite or serpentine, which would require very different care and maintenance. I have a digital photo I took at the stoneyard, and It looks quite a bit like the stone pictured here: http://www.marvamarble.com/GRANITE-ItalianGreenSoapstoneLeather.HTM I don't neccesarily trust the stoneyard in question (not Marva) to have the full story on this "Green Soapstone," since they deal almost exclusively with granite (in considerable volume) and one of their well-meaning staff member erroneously told me at first that soapstone was "too porous" for kitchen use. (This outfit would not be fabricating the countertop, fortunately, only providing the stone). Do you have any thoughts or resources on verifying that soapstone is actually soapstone, and identifying a quality piece of stone? Many thanks again for all your helpful tools and comments! -David

 

Dear David:

Thank you for your nice words.

I took a look at the picture of that stone and I highly doubt it's soapstone. As a matter of fact, they call it, “Italian green soapstone leather granite”

Of course, is not granite, either… So?... it could be anything L

May I ask you now to please read and e-sign our Statement of Purpose at: http://www.marblecleaning.org/purpose.htm?   :-)

Ciao and good luck,

Mauri zio Bertoli

 

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