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- Feb 1, 2015
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When I had quartz countertops installed in my kitchen, I had some concerns regarding flatness and called several manufacturers requesting a flatness spec. Only one was able to give me a spec and that was 1/8" over about 12 ft. Natural stone may be better but I have my doubts. Bear in mind that we are talking about using a product for something it was not intended for so all bets are off.Hmmmmm....
I 'need' the comfort of buying something certified, but just out of curiosity, how flat are the granite found at countertop or toombstone fabricator ?
Also, again out of curiosity, I had some belgian, french and austrian colleagues at one point or another in my career and contrary to us north-american as where we refer to a 'surface plate, or a 'granite', they refered to a 'marble plate' or simply a 'marble'
Is it just because granite is more common in America, and marble more comon in Europe, or this is just a semantic quirp?
Luc
Headstones are finished smooth for a mirror-like reflection but again, consider the intended use. I would suspect that they are ground with a diamond process similar to blanchard grinding and polished for a reflective finish
As far a marble is concerned, it is much softer than granite and it is also etched by any acidic product. Granite is fairly impervious to most common chemicals. It is composed primarily of quartz and feldspar (aluminum oxide). This makes it hard and thus less susceptible to wear.
I would use the countertop or headstone for setups in the same manner that I would set up on a benchtop. They should be OK for coarse work but for any precision setups or measurements, I would want to qualify them first.