It all has to do with the hardness of the abrasives and keeping the surface monolithic. Production facilities normally polish most marbles , like Fred said after 400g or 800g, with 5X (Extra) bricks. Because the 5X (the brick) is in solid form it is much harder and keeps the surface flatter. The more monolithic the surface, the better the clarity.

Loose grained abrasives (any powder or compound) can sometimes tend to wear the surface at different rates (on a microscopic level) which can lead to the “orange peel” effect you are referring to. Too much acidic contact can also cause this issue. Re-hone and do like Fred said, polish using smaller amounts of polishing powder or compound with perhaps a little more water. You can always add more powder as required.  

 

 

 

 

I had thought or think Ive seen orange peel more from over powder polishing than over honing with resins.  Is this a wrong thought process?  I mean, don’t they mechanically finish tiles at the factory and not even use a powder process? 

Orange peel is usually the result of over polishing. To remove it rehone with a 400 and repolish. You may find it helpful to not go so high on your hones as well. Most marble should be able to be polished at 400-800. Use a little powder and work slowly checking your work as you go.

 

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On Wed, Jan 24, 2018 at 2:05 PM, Stuart Young <santafefc@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

We did a job removing etching from a white marble countertop.  My results seem to vary from job to job on surfaces like this - sometimes I will get a beautiful glass-like polish and other times it will appear like a fine “orange peel” effect when you do a close inspection, and usually the reflection off the veining seems to be more apparent.  Granted, I've never had a client be unhappy with the results, but I feel I should be able to more consistently get a more crisp reflection with a factory finish.  Typically I will work on individual etch spots (if they are deep) with sandpaper or flex-diamond pads, hone things up to 800-1500, and polish with either 5x or MB12.  In this case, I pretty much had to hone the entire surface because the whole surface was pretty beat up.  

 

Any suggestions?

 

 

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