My fabricator (FLorida JOshua) who works exclusively in soapstone and considered an expert by many here, reworked it on site.

I know Joshua reworks it which is what I am basing the "gold standard" on and what I will be looking for. Wondering if this is the norm.

Mine was finished prior to installation, at the fabrication shop...with the exception of the seams. After seams were done, a rub down with alcohol, then mineral oil. We choose to leave ours naked though, so after the first coat of mineral oil evaporated, we just left it gray.

I just installed mine yesterday. While I would love to have Joshua come to the west coast to work mine, that is not feasible. I had mine fabricated by M.Tex in Denver and shipped here. I just have to do the seams, but all the other fabrication is done. There is no need to sand mine, as it looks great, feel great, has that wonderful soapstone appearance. I think it also depends on the hardness of the stone you choose. I chose a harder stone since I knew I couldn't get Joshua to come out here and fix the softer stuff for me!

So when you say just the seams have to be done do you mean they still need to be sanded down?

oldhouse - did you install the soapstone yourself and are you also DIY'ing the seams?

Finished at the fabrication shop - does this mean they did alter the finish on the stone but just did it in shop? Or was the finish you saw on the stone when you picked it unaltered? I'm trying to determine if the finish is 'expected' to be reworked whether at the shop or on site. The slab at one place here is pretty shiny - right up there with the granite -and my expectation was that it would be a much more matte finish.

Mine was templated and fabricated and finished at my house.

Mine was not finished on site, or at the fabrication site. We bought it at a place on the other side of the state, (around 350 miles away) and had it shipped to our place of fabrication. It was our understanding that it was finished at the yard with a fairly high grit, but it has a very matte, smooth feel and look. It's also one of the softer varieties, so does scratch somewhat easily. We didn't have to have a seam, and we haven't oiled it. It's been in use for a little over a year. HTH

Mine was all done in my driveway and kitchen, sanding and all. I know they sanded mine to 80 grit. I have minas which is a relatively soft (but not the softest) stone. I have wondered about what a slightly higher grit would look/behave like, and understand it can be diy'ed. But my fabricator was fairly insistent that 80 is the way to go, so I left it to him.

Well, no wonder mine has some sheen to it if 80 is the norm! I never asked before hand, but when I asked what grit was used (long after installation), they said 220. To be honest, I don't remember if it was any different looking at the warehouse, so I don't know how much sanding they did. The only sanding done on site was for the seams.

puppeez, I bet the 220 looks lovely. Do you find that it scratches more easily? If there's one 'complaint' about the 80 is that it's just a tiny bit rough, and not quite as smooth as some looks, and if you look really closely you can see the tiny circles from the orbital sander. But my fabricator does only soapstone and marble, and came highly recommended...so it's one of those times I deferred...overal they did a fabulous job. Here's a pic just so you can see. The seam is to the left of the sink. We're still very much in progress ;)

This is the exact question I was going to post this morning, so I am so glad to see you are asking it too. I hope we get the exact answers we are looking for. I am in Ohio, and called Florida Joshua earlier this week, and while he is unable to travel this far, he did say sanding is involved typically and is usually a 150-220 grit.

I am EXTREMELY nervous to go with the fabricator our installer uses because they do so little ss, and when I asked about their sanding process, he said they don't sand it, just cut and install. Yikes.

We bought ours from M Tex in Denver. We got DIY cuts from a single slab. We chose the slab on a visit but did not choose where the cuts were going to go. I was not that particular about that issue. They had measurements a bit bigger than we needed for each section. They cut initially based on those measurements. We picked up and transported to Wyoming. We recut with templates I made on my cabinets so they were exact. We then sanded to 220 in our garage. It was easy. We did the research. Got the bits we needed (diamond) and already had the tools. We did our own holes and a small radius inside corner. We have Julia which is one of the harder stones. You can see them here at....

Here is a link that might be useful: There's soapstone DIY in here...

Doggone: thanks for posting the link to your pix. Its hard to tell from the pictures: are you the one who used insulation foamboard as a cuttable substrate to support the slabs during cutting? I mentally filed that trick away, but forgot from whom I learned it. Did you do anything to bring the seams together, a la Gorilla Grips?

jalsy - maybe it's just the slabs I have and refinishing won't give it a uniform matte looking finish. I think yours look wonderful. I did get scratches from moving a heavy Bunn coffee maker around, but they pretty much disappeared when wiped down with an oiled cloth. Duh,then I put felt on the feet of the coffee maker. Maybe 150 would be a good compromise between your rough and my sheen.

Angie DIY - yep that was us. We had a piece of foam board insulation remaining from our garage build. We laid that on a plywood base and used it for even support while cutting. It worked great.

We actually did not have any seams. My husband was DETERMINED that the L shaped piece in the corner to the left of our sink be one, solid slab. We cut out the middle and used it over the dishwasher I think. No waste.

Ne

DGG: no seams! I am impressed. Thanks for the ideas. I think there is a foam board substrate in my future!