How do you polish marble tile?

[PaPaPeng]

My project is to renovate the bathroom. For the vanity top I intend to use polished white marble 12 x 12 tiles, the proposed countertop being 24 in x 6 ft. There will be an undercounter ceramic sink. This is like the set up found in hotels and restaurants where the countertop has a cutout for the sink and there is a slight overhang. I like the idea of just wiping stuff into the sink without having to run the rag over a raised lip as would be the case of a surface mount sink.

I shouldn't have too much trouble making the cutout for the sink. The question is what do I have to do to polish the cut so that it matches the glass smooth finish of the marble tile? I suppose I will have to use whetstone to polish it to glass smoth. Is there a clear wax varnish I have to apply after that?

[ffbarne]

Take a look at Harbor Freight items #44885 , 44886 , 44887

Fred

[Red Neckerson]

Get yer wife (or girlfriend) a lamb's wool robe and get jiggy wit it...........

;-]

[dadiOH]

Depends on the sheen you want. First step is to make it totally flat/smooth...wet or dry paper will work fine, grit depends on how rough the edge is; if rough, start with #240 then work down to #600 or finer. Easy to do, marble is very soft.

After that, various fine grit polishing compounds with a small cotton or lambs wool pad or wheel to give the sheen you want...pumice, auto rubbing compound or rouge, tripoli, etc.

-- dadiOH _____________________________

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[Charles Spitzer]

this is typically done with diamond backed wet sanders. the tooling will cost you about $500 to start with. you can do small edging with wet/dry sandpaper, starting at a low number grit and progressively working to a very high number, and then polishing with cerium or rouge. use it wet to contain the dust, as inhaling that can lead to silicosis.

warning: it takes a LOT of elbow grease.

conversely, you can get them polished by counter fabrication places. that runs $15-20 linear foot.

[Jamie]

Having just made a countertop out of marble tiles I can tell you that no special equipment is required to do a pretty decent job, and it doesn't take all that long. Marble is very soft. All you need is sandpaper of varying grits. Now if you were dealing with granite - different story, I'd probably say go to the professional. But marble can be shaped and sanded very easily.

I started with 150 on a belt sander to shape the edges. That takes no time at all. Once you have the shape you want, use an orbital sander or a sanding block with progressively finer grits. I only used three - 200, 400 then 2000 grit. The superfine stuff is actually intended for sanding paint repairs on automobiles. Conveniently, it is also wet/dry. It was extremely effective in creating a very highly polished surface after I finished with the 400. I happened to have some 2000 grit handy when I did this, but you can also get

1000, 1500 and so on that might make job go faster. Look at auto parts stores or online.

All told it only took about 10 or 15 minutes to get a very nice edge on a piece of marble tile.

[Bob]

you that no

doesn't take

of varying

I'd probably

very easily.

takes no time

or a sanding

400 then 2000

paint repairs on

effective in

the 400. I

can also get

auto parts

I've heard auto paint supply stores are the place for the fine sandpaper.

Bob

[ffbarne]

I polish granite (and marble) using a set of diamond pads from Harbor Freight (about $40) and a cheap random orbit sander (about $25) . The pads don't need to be flooded , just kept wet . The 'proper' tool is a Mikita PW5001C (about $275) .

Fred