Here's what I think you should try.

1. Try to get Joshua (from Florida) to post in.

2. Call a local Stoneyard and ask who they recommend to repair a cracked counter, etc. In our town, there are 1-2 experts all the people in the industry know about.

These are most likely "Fireslate" or epoxy. They didn't use real soapstone in recent memory. They still are very cool to use/reuse but don't mistake them for the quarried soapstone. c

Ahha! Fireslate! I think you are right! I looked carefully at the piece he gave me and it doesn't quite look like the soapstone samples I have from M Tiex. Fireslate doesn't get very good reviews as a countertop material. thank you!

They've been in the yard for a decade, and were probably installed for at least a couple of decades before that (what's the service life of a lab counter that doesn't have to look good?), so I'm not so sure that they could be Fireslate - has Fireslate been around that long?

Not sure how to make a positive ID, but it's not impossible that they're natural stone. My college had some antique lab tables kicking around made from 6-inch marble slabs (!). So if those countertops are old enough, maybe they are some kind of stone.

Scrappy - Service life of a lab counter made of granite, soapstone or slate is longer than the service life of the lab techs or even the hospital building. I worked in a lab that was built in the late 1800s, and they recycled the counters into the new buildings. Unfortunately, not into the new lab, they made a table top of it for the high muckity-muck's conference room. We were furious! However, they did recycle the oak reagent cabinets into the lab area and offices, so it was not completely lost.

If they are soapstone, all they need is a thorough sanding and oiling.

If they are Fireslate, get the guy to give you a slab to test the cleanup. It's a highly compressed concrete product, so clean it like concrete driveways or sountertops.

Offer the guy $10 each to take them off his hands, because they WILL require a lot of cleanup and they are short pieces. Yes, the seams will show, and there may be some unremovable stains, but you would have unique countertops.

If you're planning on DIYing, I'd definitely pick them up. If you're planning on farming out the fabrication, I'd skip them. Fabricating stone is often pricier than the cost of the stone itself.

Where did you find these? I'd love to grab one for my laundry room.

thanks everyone! The owner is super-nice, he gave me a clean smooth sample so I oiled it 5 times last night and it just SOAKS up the oil without darkening much, not at all like the soapstone sample I have that turns nice and dark when I oil it. It also soaked up the water that I placed on it but the good news is that there were no rings left by the water. However, I would not trust it for a kitchen counter as it might soak up yuckier liguids also. So I am going to pass on this. For anyone that is interested the slabs are in Baltimore, and if you email me through gardenweb I can give you the contact info for the owner. He does want them out of his yard so you might be able to get them for a good price. His current pricing is based on soapstone but I am pretty sure this is fireslate. .I will be returning the sample to him later this week.