Surface Finishes
We offer the following surface finishes for stone in addition to the factory finish: leathered, polished, honed, and bush-hammered. Please refer to the definitions below for more information on each finish. Note that some finishes are only available as factory finishes.
- Factory:
- The finish put on the slab at the processing facility (factory) before being exported. Generally polished for most marbles and granites, and honed for most shist and limestones. Slates mostly come as cleft face. Additionally some materials are available in multiple finishes (ie a stone may be mostly exported polished, but a smaller quantity is exported honed).
- Polished
- This is the standard factory finish for most granites and marbles. A polished surface is highly reflective and the least porous of the finishes available. Polished marbles can be etched with many household acids and cleaners. On-site surface refinishing is NOT recommended and can be spotty at best.
- Leathered:
- This finish adds texture to the surface. Additionally, it closes the pores (compared to honing) and retains the color better than honing. While a leathered finish has a sheen to it, it is no where near as reflective as a polished surface. A good analogy would be that a leathered finish is like a matte finish on a photograph whereas a polished surface is like a glossy photograph. Please note that the amount of texture will vary from stone to stone and some stones will not leather (especially extremely uniform materials). Leathering is preferred to honing for blacks and other very dark materials. For example the amount of texture on Absolute Black is minimal and very fine grained, and the finish is much more uniform than honing Absolute Black. Leathering starts with a honed surface and adds texture, and is a completely different process than river washed (see below).
- Honed:
- This is the standard factory finish for schists and most limestones (most of which will NOT take a polish). Honing a polished material opens up the pore making it more susceptible to staining than the same material in a polished finish. At home re-finishing is possible, and the end result will vary from stone to stone (see re-finishing in our care and cleaning section). Honing will "grey out" or fade the color of the stone, this is more noticeable on darker materials than on lighter materials. A color enhancing sealer is available and may be used to restore the color (if desired). Also note that very dark materials (especially blacks) tend to end up with an un-even finish and a honed finish is not recommended.
- Bush hammered:
- Another textured finish. This is best for external use. Bush hammering will "grey out" or fade the color of the stone to an even greater extent than honing. This finish is rougher than leathering and more uniform. This finish can be done to virtually any stone.
Many of the following finishes are only available as factory finishes. We can NOT offer any of these finishes UNLESS the slabs you select already have the desired finish on them.
- Antiqued:
- This is actually a style of finishes rather than a particular finish. Leathered, river washed, and tumbled finishes are all examples of an antiqued finish. A factory finish smiliar to a leathered finish is sometimes called an antiqued finish.
- Brushed:
- This term is sometimes used to refer to either a leather finish or a river washed finish. Unfortunately, this leads to ambiguity as there are distinct differences between leathered and river washed finishes.
- Cleft face:
- This is most commonly seen on slate and sandstones. Cleft face is simply the natural splitting along the layers as the stone is removed from the quarry. This is a factory finish only.
- Sandblasted:
- This textured surface can vary (like leathering) based on the composition of the stone being blasted. Also other blast media (instead of sand) may be used creating differences in the end result. Blasting will also "grey out" or fade the color (even more so than honing). A blasted surface is extremely porous and will be very hard to keep clean. Recommended for decorative use only.
- Flamed:
- A flamed finish is created using an extremely hot flame (usually from an Oxy-Acetylene torch). The heat stresses the material causing crystals to pop out. Flaming creates a very rough texture best used for exterior purposes only. A flamed finish is excellent for exterior walkways. Flaming can only be done on granites, and is primarily available as a special order factory finish.
- River washed:
- This finish is the pre-cursor to the leather finish. Before a slab can be river washed it must first be flamed. The river washing process simply smooths out the roughness of the flamed finish. River washed surfaces are good for interior or decorative use and NOT recommended for countertops. River washed is only available as a factory finish at this time.
- Tumbled:
- This finish applies to marble tiles that are literally tumbled to create a weathered or distressed look. There is some texture as well as softening of edges on the finished tiles.
