"Solid surface" worktop - made of what?

[Tim Watts]

- not seen this before. Claims to be "solid", not chip or MDF substrate. And yet, also machinable with routers and standard woodworking tools.

I guess it must be some sort of plastic composite - anyone come across it?

Now that I google, the name "Solid surface" seems to be popping up from a few suppliers.

Cheers

Tim

[polygonum]

[Tim Watts]

Ah - eventually found a link to the makers:

solid - how's that likely to hold up to heat and abrasion?

[ARWadsworth]

Fit one at sweetheats house. She's not had a flood or fire for a couple of weeks so she will be due one soon.

[S Viemeister]

[Gazz]

i wanted to, but the GF complained it was too cold for her to lay on.

[Tim Watts]

Get the wife to lay on it first to warm it up a bit :)

[Chris Holford]

In my last job we had Corian bench tops in the physics lab'. It stood up to wear and tear, and heat, very well. ISTR pt's acrylic loaded with marble powder.

[Owain]

Put a blanket over it, and let them both lie on it together.

Owain

[Charles]

As others said ... so here is another link

[John Rumm]

Sounds rather similar to Corian...

[Weatherlawyer]

[Tim Watts]

a hard material - it was the use of joinery tools that caught my eye...

[Chris Hogg]

Not marble powder but alumina trihydrate, aka martifin, aka aluminium hydroxide, aka Al(OH)3 (see

The problem with marble powder in worktops is that it's attacked by mild acids in foodstuffs such as vinegar, fruit juices, curry sauces etc. etc., and the surface becomes full of micro-pits which hold the dirt. Alumina trihydrate also has fire-extinguishing properties, so the stuff doesn't burn.

[stuart noble]

aka antacid pills

[Tim Watts]

This is all very interesting... I see acrylic based materials like Corian are thermoformed at 150C so that kind of defines its heat resistance.

But there are also polyester resin based versions like Marlan.

Has anyone worked with any variant of this stuff - either installing (does it really machine easily with woodworking tools) or has anyone used a kitchen with it installed?

SWMBO wants "stone" and hates wood. I don't mind stone, but the machining costs pretty much double the price of an already expensive product.

I like wood because it is easy to work with.

So these composites seem like a reasonable solution.

[Tim Watts]

"Hot pan test 10 minutes 180° Celsius no lasting effect"

[Marlan - ]

That looks promising...

[Nick Odell]

Dunno about machine tools but Corian is accepted as one of the better[1] materials for making guitar nuts like this

cuts and files easily with hand tools and it's possible to work it to very precise tolerances in this context.

Nick [1]YMMV. Guitar players fight religious wars over the material that gives the 'true' sound and the search for the Holy Grail of guitar nuts is far from over.

[Tim Watts]

> ]

I was thinking about this.

100C on not-infrequent occasions (thin bottomed saucepan off the ring)

220C - "accidental" almost-never contact with a pot straight out of the oven.

In theory we would use trivets or heatmats (there are 4 people involved - ha!) - but what I do not want is the 220C case warping/destroying it on contact.

I think Corian/acrylic is out. The polyester looks more promising though...

[Weatherlawyer]

It gave me a trip down memory lane. I once worked with polyester resin doing much the same sort of thing. I wouldn't have used much more than an electric drill or a reciprocating saw on that.

I looked the firm up online. Defunct.

I know the feeling.