I plan to buy honed Pietra Bedonia for my kitchen counters (I know, I couldn't pay you to install it in your kitchen. I'm nuts, etc.). Since it is subject to etching, I would like to prepare it as best as possible in the hopes of maintaining the beauty of the stone. I would like to use one or more of your products to help protect and clean my stone and would greatly appreciate your help in which to use and in what order. Thanks very much for your advice.

 

Dear Peg:

Pietra di Bedonia, huh… It sure stirs memories: Bedonia is a town in the province of Parma , in the Northern part of Italy . I was born and grew up in Parma (I was 37 when I moved to this country with my wife and two kids). They have terrific wild porcini mushroom in that neck of woods!

Well, that stone is not as bad as you might be afraid of. It's feldspatic sandstone with a high percentage of quartz, which is actually its main component. If properly sealed and cared for, you should be all right with it – especially if you don't do a lot of cooking… J

I really don't know if it is subject to etching. In my days they only used that stone as a paving material for courtyards, driveways and sidewalks, so the problem of etching did not exist. At any rate, if it contains minerals that are sensitive to acids and get etched by them there's not much that you can do about it, is there?...

So, protection from etching (if it does etch) is out of the window. You can protect it from staining with a good-quality stone impregnator like MB-4, but, quite honestly, I never tested MB-4 on that type of stone and therefore I have no idea on how well it will perform in it. As for the rest, the routine cleaning could be accomplished with a specific product like MB-5.

And that's about it… J

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 z io Bertoli

 

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