Good for you Barry-diamonds and acidic polishing compounds will give you a better finish when polishing calcite based stones.
Fiber pads will give you a lesser clarity in the finish. They are great for honing applications.
Saturnia is just crosscut travertine cut from the block across the veining or banding. When it is cut along the banding you can see the bands, when it is crosscut you wont.
I agree with John on the process but want to add something we incorporate into travertine jobs when the customer isn't exactly sure what finish they want.
Different grades of travertine will finish differently-to explain further high quality travertine can take great polishes or different levels of honed finishes. Lesser quality stones seem to finish somewhat less uniform due to their composition and how they exhibit soft spots and fills.
Some travertines just look horrible polished.
 
If they want polished we can easily show them that finish.
 
Customers sometimes aren't sure what type of finish they want so we just do a few samples at the start of the job to get an idea of what they want. A low hone silken matte finish is my favorite usually finishing with no higher than a 280 honing powder. This finish will usually give you a very uniform clean finish thats easy to sell and fast to accomplish.
 
The next sample is a higher hone  using a higher grit honing powder or fiber pads run dry. If they want us to go higher we can do that for them and finish with a buffed in color enhancer.
This way they can approve whatever finish they like and we can complete the job for them.

On Wed, Oct 17, 2012 at 3:14 PM, John Freitag <jfreitag@thestoneandtileschool.com> wrote:

Barry,

 

Now I have all the information. The salturnia  marble is in the travertine family. The reason you have shinny spot, the stone has hard spot and soft spot within the stone. In the polishing process many facilities polish the stone to a high honed finish or a medium hone finish.  When this is done it is not uncommon to have different shine on the stone.

Honing and polishing will solve your problem.  Question , does the customer want a gloss  finish or a high honed finish???  If the customer wants a high honed finish then if there is damage in the stone start with a 220 then 400 and finish with a 800 grit honing powder and the stone will have a high honed finish. Then Seal with an Impregnating sealer.

 

To add some additional shine to the honed finish you can actually use a white pad and light spray down a solvent based Impregnating sealer and work into the stone and the reaction of the sealer and the heat from the white pad will add a little more Shine to the stone.  You may need to spray down more than one application, work the sealer into the stone until completely dry.

 

 

John E Freitag

Director

The Stone & Tile School

Office 407-567-7652

Cell 407-615-0134

jfreitag@thestoneandtileschool.com

 

schoollogo

 

www.thestoneandtileschool.com

 

 

From: stonerestorer@gmail.com [mailto:stonerestorer@gmail.com] On Behalf Of Barry Raduta
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2012 2:29 PM


To: Stone and Tile PROS Technical Support
Subject: RE: [sccpartners] Glossy Travertine

 

Thanks John,
I did the razor blade test and there is no topical coating.  I am taking your advice and using resin diamonds rather than twisters.  Is it possible that it is Saturnia Marble which I know is a similiar composition as travertine?  I am always nervous about using resins on travertine because of the possibility of opening up "holes" in the stone.
Thanks........Barry

On Wed, Oct 17, 2012 at 1:23 PM, John Freitag <jfreitag@thestoneandtileschool.com> wrote:

Barry ,

 

If you think there is a coating on the floor test those areas by using a razor blade to scrape the areas that are shinny. If you get anything off with the razor test then use some alkaline based stripper to test to make sure it will remove the coating. Then you can decide to strip the floor if necessary. The shinny spots could be the different wear patterns in the floor.

 

 

 

John E Freitag

Director

The Stone & Tile School

Office 407-567-7652

Cell 407-615-0134

jfreitag@thestoneandtileschool.com

 

schoollogo

 

www.thestoneandtileschool.com

 

 

 

From: Dayron [mailto:dayron@perfectmarblefloors.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2012 10:18 AM


To: Stone and Tile PROS Technical Support
Subject: RE: [sccpartners] Glossy Travertine

 

You said the floor had some shine, could it be wax, or crystallizer.  Most of the times homeowners dont know what precisely has been done to the floor.  I would strip the floor first just to make sure its not a coating

Sent from my iPad


On Oct 17, 2012, at 8:40 AM, Fred Hueston <fhueston@gmail.com> wrote:

The red or the white twister should be aggressive enough to hone the surface. The problem with the pad method is that the floor may not have a flat appearance. In other words the floor may look wavy. I prefer using diamonds, but it depends on what the customer expects

On Wed, Oct 17, 2012 at 8:15 AM, Barry Raduta <barry@diamondstoneandtilecare.com> wrote:

Hello Partners,
I have restored quite a few travertine floors, but I usually started with tiles that have a honed finish.  I have been successful using twister pads and a polishing compound to yield a glossy shine and all of my customers have been ecstatic with the results.  I am currently proposing a job where the travertine already has a glossy finish (for the most part) and I am wondering if I should continue using my methodology of twister pads and polish or use resin discs and polish.  My concern is whether the twisters will completely hone down the glossy finish or not.  I know that I can test an area to see, but I thought that one of you have encountered this situation.  There are hardly any deep scratches on the floor that require the resins.  Thanks for your input.
Barry

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Thank You,
Barry V Raduta
Diamond Stone & Tile Care-South
888-473-8111

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Thank You,
Barry V Raduta
Diamond Stone & Tile Care-South
888-473-8111

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Regards,
Stu Rosen
201-446-1200
www.mbstonecare.com 
www.mbstone.com
www.stoneshine.com
"EVERYTHING MATTERS "