I just switched to Bee's oil (bees wax blended with mineral oil) a few weeks ago to see if it had more staying power than just oil. It does but is still slowly wearing off with just dawn dishsoap when I clean the counters so no residue buildup at all. I love the stone natural so may not continue to wax or oil. Ours is the stormy black variety so pretty dark in its natural state and no maintenance if I choose to stop. With our medium grey cabinets though I like the darker sheen the wax or oil gives it though. Soapstone cannot be sealed because it is impermeable so the wax should just scrub off with a good degreaser.

Ok so do you have any ideas on what the yellow is or how to get it off?

I've only applied the wax once so I don't know how much can build up if you do it daily. Can you scrape any of it off with a fingernail? Or if it is really wax maybe put a towel over it and run a hot iron across? The stone can teams the heat and it might lift off.

I meant take the heat. I actually did that on my dining table after a candle accident and it worked with a warm iron.

Oh that is an interesting idea! I've done that on clothes with wax, too! Maybe it needs heat versus a chemical to get it off. Thank you for the suggestion!

Well I tried more acetone, dawn dish soap and the iron to no avail! The wax we were given was beeswax and linseed oil mixed, if that helps! It doesn't really have a greasy residue, it's just raised and yellow if that helps! Thanks for your suggestions and hopefully someone out there will know what to do!

I just read that linseed oil can dry like a hard varnish. That must be what you are seeing. Maybe someone else will chime in with help. I hope you get it resolved. There is so much misinformation out there about soapstone. We dropped our local fabricator and had the supplier install (M. Teixeira) and they were fantastic. We made the decision as soon as local guy said he would chemically seal it and we knew that wasn't possible. We also installed in May and truly love it.

Awesome! Thank you for that info! Here's hoping someone will chime in ;) thank you for your time and efforts!

Since soapstone isn't porous, it whatever it is should be just sitting on the surface, right? And since soapstone can be refinished, can you get a small orbital sander and sand it off? There have been lots of posts here that talk about what grit paper to use. Or is there a soapstone fabricator in your area?

Sorry, it's not the advice that I would want to hear (I'm DIY challenged), but might be something you could explore.

Sure hope you find a solution. We just put a deposit on our soapstone..... can't wait to have it installed.

My husband may be willing to sand it off-he is very hesitant and thinks I should just ignore it but I don't want to ;-) I've called our supplier and they had no answers. "Put mineral oil on it." Hmm not quite he response I was expecting!

I will suggest sanding with an orbital. Thanks!

Sherri - I was afraid to suggest that since I haven't taken sandpaper to mine yet but yes, that may be the only solution. I read to use mineral spirits to remove linseed but you certainly don't want that on your counters, even though it shouldn't damage the stone it is incredibly harmful. I've never heard of linseed on soapstone, just woodworking.

I wonder if florida_joshua and florida_mimi are around.

The last post I saw from Joshua was in 2014 though....

.

You could try starting a new thread and calling out to them in the Subject....

I will try that! Yes I scoured the earlier threads but didn't really see anything in the posts bc of this weird colored residue / build up! Don't get me wrong, I love my soapstone, I just don't know why more and more of these yellow areas are showing up..it's as if it's coming to the surface over time!

brdrl - my only other thought was to take a torch to it. They do use soapstone for ovens and pizza stones, etc. But I thought that might be too radical, lol.

Catie, let us know if you find a solution.

I will let you know!!

Another vote for sanding it off, or a green Scotch Brite pad. And then I would just leave it alone, no more oil or wax.

I stopped oiling mine over two years ago, very happy with the naked look, and zero maintenance, as Soapstone was meant to be!

cookncarpenter,

How long were you oiling before you stopped? I'm coming up on two years with mine and have pretty much stopped the last year except for the sink and runnels which get a lot of use.

Hi Catie,

I
had to chime in when reading this! We're kind of the soapstone pro's on the West Coast :-) The yellow/gold inclusions are actually Iron
Pyrite deposits. It's a mineral that is embedded in the stone when it formed. You'll find
them in a lot of Soapstone. They're also in Calacatta Marble. In
fact, a lot of people want them in there marble, specifically because they're kind of an
emblem of Authentic Calacatta from Italy. They tend to be more dark silver, where the ones
in soapstone are more gold. Check out our Blog
entry with
more photos.