slate and ?

[abknight@zzzzzz]

Robin Putnam mentions Sirroco Marble.

Sorry to butt in but....hey Robin,  that's my stone! Unless you buy it
first!  You have a good eye, by my account.  A handsome brooding stone.
Very stong banding, gray green, paler green, shadowy, pensive, deep!   A
stone with a very strong character.  I too brought home a corner that Cecil
whacked with his hammer.   I know you're talking to better experts than me
in Bill Snow and Simon Brown, but I concluded that stone is,hard, carvable
and very weather resistant, just as you did.  It also looks very consistent
and sound and very, very strong.  I would not want to deny myself the use of
a grinder.  If you carve that big stone with any grinding,I'll buy you
dinner at the best restaurant in Joplin!

Sounds like you're skipping the softer marbles as you expand from limestone
and alabaster, not to mention that stone is Huge, but why not!   Hard to
ignore such stone if it's practicaly in your backyard.  I'm jealous and
would love to hear what you have planned.   Muscovite is a mica and does
contain silicon.  How dangerous it is I do not know, but beware.

I'm very excited for you!

Bill Knight