A plea to everyone:
We have been in the stone restoration business 12 years now. The attached photo illustrates our nemisis, across these years, so to speak. Let me explain. I received a call from a home owner with recently installed marble. The installers decided to “polish” the marble to remove some defect. (That really doesn’t matter). The home owner placed an extra tile (factory finish) next to a tile “polished” by the installers. Look at the photo. The beam of light crossing the tile is a reflection from a vanity light. The difference between the factory finished tile, and the “polished" tile is overwhelming, particularly if you’ve been looking at stone for a long time. As I learned from Mauricio long ago, there are two things to look for: Degree of reflectivity, and clarity. The “polished” stone loses on both counts. Less reflectivity, less clarity. Although we haven’t worked on this stone, I looked at it and I told the home owner that I didn’t know how to restore the tile to a factory finish. We have tried varying our polishing compounds, honing methods (resin diamonds vs. dips). I feel that if I don’t know how to replicate the factory finish, then I’m not really in the ballgame. The factory finished tile looks perfectly smooth, like glass. The “polished" tile looks as if it has a texture. I believe this is referred to at times as “orangepeel”. This “texture” may be causing the light to defract in a way that is not uniform, as opposed to a surface absolutely smooth which facilitates a “uniform” defraction.
Desperately,
Stu Young
Santa Fe Floor Care
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Date: September 12, 2018 at 7:14:51 PM CDT<IMG_0786.jpg>