Donho-

I'm NOT going to ask the obvious question that you're prolly SICK of getting asked...
like in the scene from "Office Space" where the "Bobs" are interviewing Michael
and they ask him... "So..... are ya related?"... HA!

Anyways - back to topic... What YOU are experiencing is the exact reason why
for almost a decade I was a crusader against doing honed Absolute Black -
for that very reason. I did three kitchens all at the same time - for the same
client. He built three spec homes, and we did honed AB in all three, and they
had the same exact issue that you are having. In fact - I was on my way up to
Scottsdale on a bright sunny Tuesday morning to look over the work and listen
to his complaint when the meeting was postponed in light of the events that taken
place earlier that morning in New York, Washington & Pennsylvania -
the date that day - was September 11th, 2001...

You always remember what you were doing and where you were when events
like that happen - President Kennedy's assassination , Neil Armstrong on the Moon,
Challenger Blowing up, President Reagan getting shot, etc -
I was going to look at "what the heck my customer was supposed to do about
ALL THREE of his kitchens
that had honed AB in them" on the morning of 9/11....

Anyways - there IS good news for you on your problem - and in my opinion -
NEITHER an enhancer nor a sealer is going to help you in this situation - I have
tried both without a great deal of success on Honed AB......

HOWEVER.................

You CAN use Method Daily Granite Polish - it is ALL NATURAL and you apply it
every day for around two weeks - after which time - you will have built up a
"patina" of coconut oil - the active ingredient that will help to prevent the
natural oils in your fingers from showing up on the stone and creating the
smudges...

MANY people have found that Method Daily Granite Polish DOES work in this
situation!!!!

I learned about this technique right her on GW from some of the home owners
that had the VERY SAME problem tha you have!!!!

try it.......

hth

kevin

Kevin -

Thanks for the info. Funnily, I had just bought that and put it on and been disappointed that nothing looked any different. I'm glad to hear you say that eventually it will do something.

My thought on the enhancing was that it would make the stone darker and then the darkeness of the smudges wouldn't show so much. You haven't found that to be true? Do you think that smudging is worse if the stone isn't sealed enough? It was just sealed once.

My installers had to come back to take off some glue they missed, and they used acetone to clean that off. That took all the smudges off. Looked great. Is that bad for the stone to do that every once in a while? Would I have to reseal after that? Or should I just go for patina / Method build up ?

Thanks for your input.

Go for the Method Build up - DO NOT wipe down with Acetone - THAT will
remove sealers and other coatings - so leave the ACETONE out of your plan.

Enhncers do work - but not the same on all stones - your stone may have
been resined - maybe not - most AB's are not - but some however - ARE
STAINED - and this can have an effect on the wear - the way to tell that IF
your stone may have ben stained - is to tale a PIECE OF SCRAP

NOT ON THE FINISHED COUNTERS....

On a PIECE OF SCRAP - get a small, dry WHITE cloth like an old UNUSED
Baby Diaper (HA!) soak it with some Acetone, and rub really hard ON THE
PIECE OF SCRAP - NOT THE FINISHED COUNTERTOP ..... after about a minute
of continuous hard rubbing - stop and look at the baby diaper - IF it
is dark in color - grey or brown or black - THAT is some of the STAIN
that was applied to the stone.

Many AB's actually are more of an "Anthracite Grey" than a pure black
when they are quarried, and the Indian & Chinese Finishing plants will
actually DYE the slabs with a Black staining solution - to make them "more blacker"
so to speak.... This happens - NOT ALWAYS - but SOMETIMES - so
you need to be aware of this and check your stone.

As far as what YOU should do in YOUR situation - I'd run with the Method,
and give it a chance to "take" you should start to see some noticeable
results in about 14 days.....

hth

kevin

Thanks again! Great to have such knowledge available here. I will go with Method and patina for a while.

I'm one of the honed AB Method users, and it's worked out really well for us. I use Method Daily Granite (I think that's what it's called - gray/black spray bottle) when I wipe off the counters at night, and I guess it works as some kind of granite treatment. We don't have any unusual smudging problems (except that when we've been cooking, etc., the counter does look messy - as you'd expect).

It obviously works as some type of treatment because the areas where we don't spray regularly (under the coffee maker)look slightly different. This is fixable if you move the appliance and spray under it for a few days.

I just found this thread as I was looking for help finding something to remove the fingerprints from the tradespeople all over our newly installed, honed black granite countertops. So, my question is...does using Method help removed/fade the stains that are already there, as well as protect against future stains, or just help them blend in, or is it too late for us? Thanks for any advice!!

@lindafurness, you might be better starting a new thread, since many people won’t open very old threads. This one is 14 years old!