Stone staining - Soapstone

["John Vancamp" <jvcstnwrks@zzzzzzzzzzzzz>]

 ((    I thought  that soapstone was impervious and that's why they use it
for
 lab sinks and  countertops.
 Robert      ))

 For use in sinks and countertops a sealer is applied to Soapstone. This
 sealer must be renewed every month.
  Some harder stones will dissolve when exposed to acids, or lose their
 structure and begin crumbling to dust when exposed to heat

Ok,   a little rant about stone and sealers.   Soapstone is in fact
imperveous and essentially chemically inert. It will not absorb a
penetrating sealer.  What is applied to soapstone is mineral oil, and it
serves to enhance the color. Personally, I hate the look it gives the
stone, and the only time I did use it, I spent a few hours the next day
sanding it off. (notice-it did not penetrate the stone surface)
Traditionally the application schedual is once a week for the first month,
once a month for the first year, once a year from then on.  The use of
expensive sealers on soapstone only helps make boat payments for the
sellers of such sealers.  The same can be said for sealing of a lot of
other stones used in the counter top industry.  Many marbles, travertine,
and compacted limestones are also too dense to allow a sealer to penetrate.
Therefore, it is also very difficult for anything to "stain" them. However
all calcite based stones will react chemically to acidic liquids.  Polished
marble on a kitchen work surface will soon be a disaster- especially if one
expects it to stay pristinely new.  Honed surface marble, or limestone have
been used for centuries around the mediteranian basin for kitchen work tops
without benefit of any miracle in a bottle sealer, and they do just fine.
In fact many are generations old, and tell the story of many family meals
in their surface patina. True geologic granites generally will benifit from
the application of a penetrating sealer, some from more than one
application.  However, once properly sealed, they should be able to go for
years without being resealed.  There are a lot of other stones marketed as
granite that are not.  Some of these again are so dense that trying to seal
them is nonsence.  Others probably shouldn't even be on the market as while
pretty to look at are a maintainence nightmare.
I need to get going, but if anyone cares, and has the time , here is a link
to an interesting thread about stone sealing
http://www.stonepowerhouse.com/phorum3/viewtopic.php?t=7806

JVC