I am about to complete a piece fo furniture. All I lack is the top. My daughter says to me ” wouldnt that look good with a black top on it”. She was right! A black granite or marble top would look great. So I come to you…where would i find a cheap stone top. I was thinking off-cuts but my measurement would be 29″ x 69″. Thats a big off-cut.
How about commercial demolition areas where marble was used on the walls? I dont know..that is why I am asking for suggestions. There has GOT to be a way I can get somthing CHEAP!! like about $150.00 I will use formica if there is no other way. A mahogany plywood top was my first thought until my daughter suggested stone. But it is a good idea…stone will take a beating better than a mahogany top…any suggestions will help.
Replies
Slate chaulk board from old school demo?
Would need a frame surronding edge.
Excellence is its own reward!
I was fixing an factory building exterior in an industrial park which was right next to a place that trucked in large marble slabs to be cut for counter tops and with sink cutouts. Huge thick sheets. Saw a pile of various sized cut marble slabs in the dumpster and enquired about them. Was told to take them home. Counter top bakery work station was my thought. Saw a bunch of larger slabs in a stack I didn't ask about thinking they kept the larger mistakes and such for reuse somehow. You could try calling a place like that looking for off cuts.
Half of good living is staying out of bad situations, the other half gets so complex I don't deal with it.
I never had a problem with character, people have been telling me I was one ever since I was a kid.
Have you considered breaking the top into smaller sections via a partioned frame? This would allow you to use the easier to come by smaller pieces. Just don't fit that stone too tight to the wood framing. Leave just a little room for the wood frame to expand. Walnut perhaps, or even a black lacquered frame to set off the stone?
nice idea!
Yeah, I'd like a late model Cadillac in perfect condition for $2000, too, but it ain't gonna happen.
Build the top out of something you can put a perfectly smooth finish on, like MDF, and paint it to look like stone.
some black tile maybe or mix up some concrete
I always have scraps of granite that I can't get rid of. Plenty are as big as what you describe. I think the trick is to find a fabricator small enough that they only buy enough material for one job so they have no way of using the leftover material. Big fabricators buy slabs by the bundle and can keep using offcuts for the next job they do in that particular stone.
I just hate having to take the time to put the scrap on the table and set the saw up to do the cuts that most people want done for next to nothing. By the time I see you, find out what you want, answer misc questions, do the cuts and get you out the door it seems like I have burned up two or more productive hours.
I will happily give the scrap away. It is the cutting/polishing on small jobs that costs me money unless I charge far more than the piece is really worth.
Karl
Like "the bear", I have a piece of slate from a pool table which I eventually would like to incorporate into a coffee table top if that's practical. Can you tell me if the slate is appropriate for this use and if I need to seal it with something?Knowledge is power, but only if applied in a timely fashion.
I would go to your local fabricators and see what the biggest pieces you can get. Think of a different designs other then "solid one piece". Necessity is the mother of invention you know. Make thin partitions of wood between the stone...use brass between the stone, leather, rope, ......etc etc..Nows when you should be getting excited about the varities of ideas your imagination can invent. This is the crafty "fun part". Inspire yourself and let the tunnel vision which we all have fall to the graces of K.D production companies. the top will have your signiture on it and your kid helped start the ball rolling in the imagination dept....how cool is THAT?!
Be well
Namaste'
andy
It's not who's right, it's who's left ~ http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
Edited 10/13/2002 11:06:47 AM ET by Andy Clifford(Andybuildz)
Goldhiller,
Slate is a lot easier to cut and finish the edges on but it is also a lot easier to scratch. If you can tolerate a surface with character I would say go for it. I have only done one slate countertop and I did seal it as a precautionary measure but I am not sure it was necessary. The homeowners are pretty careful with it but there are a few scratches in it but no dark spots from oil spills etc.
I lived for seven years on an unsealed slate floor and it held up fine to spills, pets, foot traffic, etc. The slates I am used to don't have a flat surface though, it is an uneven cleft surface and I presume the pool table slate has been ground flat. I think your main concern is how tolerant you will be of scratches.
Try it out. You can always replace the inlay with something else if it doesn't hold up.
Karl
i had a piece of slate i aquired from an old pool table , cost me 75.00 and a get it outta here today.........look in your local trader, paper......formica??? stick to the natural stuff , you'll be happier later I.M.H.O. Cheers bear
I'm with GOLDHILLER - Build a frame with a good solid base and put down a random pattern in slate w/grey grout.
Try a stone retailer/wholesaler. Need to find one? Go to HD and ask who they get their granite from. In CT, we have a place called (you guessed it) CT Stone. They have every type of stone offered in the world. They sell "remnants" for next to nothing. These are pieces that were sink cutouts, have significant "inclusions" (I call it character) or are useless as they don't necessarily match anything they have in stock. Ask them how much to cut/finish to size and I'll bet you'll be shocked. It's garbage to them...just remember, one man's garbage is another man's treasure.
Mike O.
P.S. http://www.connecticutstone.com/
That's where I get my stone...
I actually love this type of stuff ! I just back from visiting a friend that went into the worm business . He was building wood beds out of plywood . Well, he went to the dump, and there was fiberglass molds laying there. Just the right size . He asked for some of them and told the man what he intended to do with them . He took a few to try them. When he returned the dump man had sold all of what was left ! He said he sold nearly a hundred for 100.00 each to worm people, that he got off the internet !
Maybe you should look around and consider your options.
Tim Mooney
what about finding out where those high school bio labs and chem labs get their big black heat-resistant inch and a half thick slab countertops? or, if you really want to burn up a lot of hours, make one out of concrete and stain it, stain it, and then when you're almost done, stain it.
-m