Marble resistance to Weather

["George Graham" <georgergraham@zzzzzzzzzzz>]

Hi Bill,
I'll clarify this statement a little because this subject is near and dear
to my heart.

When I first discovered marble carving, vermont marble was and still is very
common. It turns up all over the country in scrap yards, and demolition
sites and so on. I was told early on that it tends to be very soft and
crumbly. It looks good, but its tricky to carve. At the time I knew nothing
about the monument industry, and could only accept what I was told and what
I had seen for myself when I tried some out.

The problem with Vt. marble is that (from a sculptors point of view) is
that, as beginners we usually stumble on to a nice block of this stone, that
looks like a dream come true. The piece gets lugged home, and the happy
carver starts working. After a  little work, it becomes apparent that any
projections and  detail work will just crumble away in a fine white powder,
that looks like fine sugar.Hence the name sugar stone. From a monument guys
point of view, all you have to do is go to any old section of a cemetery in
the north east of USA, and see the weather and worn headstone that have lost
so much detail that you cannot read the names and dates, and know that you
should stay away from Vermont marble. Unfortunately, a lot of monument
dealers , and cemetery managers, think all marble is like vermont.

I think that the problem is that vermont marble  was the first marble to be
extensively quarried and sold , and that the early and most accessible
deposits of this stone were very soft . A huge amount of this stone was cut
into large simple blocks for building projects, which is exactly what this
stuff is best suited for. Now people keep recycling these old blocks and use
them for projects that the stone is not suited for,  and that has led to
vermont marbles bad reputation.

The frustrating thing about this is that Vermont's bad reputation has
overshadowed the great qualities of other vermont marbles and  marble that
is quarried all over the country.

About the time vermont marble was falling from favor, the granite industry
was growing, and quickly took over . The question was, how does marble stand
up to weather and pollution? I'd say, it depends on the stone and the
location. Untreated , polished marble will loose the polish from the parts
that face the sky. Any place where rain , snow and dew collect will be the
first to loose its shine. Especially if the piece is in a large metropolitan
area. That being said, a honed finish on marble will let the look of the
stone show through for generations. If the sculpture is protected with some
kind of wax , once a year, the stone will remain unchanged .

One example of this is Brookgreen Gardens, in South Carolina. It is a huge
outdoor classical sculpture garden collection that is on the Atlantic coast,
between Charleston and Myrtle beach. There are a lot of life size Tenn..
pink carvings there that look like they were carved last year, instead of
120 years. There are hundreds of bronze , marble and granite sculptures on
display outdoors. The foundation that runs the place has a maintenance
program that involves regular cleaning and waxing. The condition of the
sculptures speaks for itself. If any of you folks are lucky enough to be
there in the spring when the azaleas are in bloom under the ancient live
oaks, you must go there!

George Graham