Have no soapstone experience but we are using Carrara in our kitchen and during the research phase ( to talk my hubby round, I knew I wanted marble!) I came across poultices. Might be worth searching above in the search box for soapstone poultice. Soapstone dark spot removal, etc. And also try googling poultices for soapstone too if this site doesn't come back with much ( v.doubtful!)

Do not sand! That would be an unnecessary and expensive mess. I am not an expert but we've had our counters for 6 months and have done a lot of experimenting with oiling and then letting them go natural. I wash them with dishsoap, let dry and then rub a light coat of mineral oil and rub off (really rub off well) and they come out uniform and beautiful but then fade over time. I commented on the thread link below with photos if it helps. The great thing about soapstone is it is non permeable so you don t need to sand anything out. A poultice will not work since nothing soaks in. The dark marks are just oil residue on the surface but applying oil or wax gets it all the same color. As the stone oxidizes over time it will get darker and not necessarily in a uniform way which is probably what you are seeing. However as I comment in this thread I do get water marks on the oiled surface

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/3453446/soapstone-and-the-dish-queue

I think oiling soapstone never ends if you want a uniform look to the countertop. My sink and area around it fades and needs to be re-oiled every few months to keep it looking like the rest of the counters which after a year of oiling maintain their patina.

I stopped oiling all together a couple years ago. After all, that's one of the beauties of soapstone, it's maintenance free!

I do clean with green scotch brite pad every few weeks, which could be considered a light sanding...

You really don't have to strip your counters before oiling them.

We've had soapstone for our counters for 5 years. I never waxed/oiled them at all because we really liked the light blue/gray color-that's one of the reasons we chose them. However, last April I decided to try oiling them just for a change. I used the beeswax/oil mixture that Florida Joshua recommended. I didn't do anything special to the counters before doing this except to clean them. There were a few areas that were a little darker; the beeswax/oil just makes everything uniform.

A lesson for others.

• If you want a nice even color on your countertops, don't pick soapstone.
• If you pick soapstone, don't expect a nice even color without a lot of work.

I am of the no work school. My soapstone countertops look like school cafeteria kids have been eating on them for ten years -- which is how soapstone is supposed to look.

Check with karin_mt, our kitchen geologist, but soapstone is completely non-porous. It absorbs nothing. The darker areas have surface oils, as you surmised, from cooking, etc. there is no reason to sand or do anything to remove this if you are going to replace it with...more oil. If you seek uniformity, you can wash the darker areas with a degreasing detergent like dawn before you treat, but there's really no need to do even this. All oil or beeswax does is sit on the surface, make it look darker and eliminate the oiled vs non oiled contrast. Good luck, and show us pics of the before and after!

It shouldn't be necessary to sand your soapstone. Just clean it well, rinse, let dry. Apply light application of beeswax to countertop. After applying, my blue-gray soapstone easily blended with the oil spots.

For the op, try the oil wax mixture first. It will probably blend right in with the current dark spots.