dcarch, "There are many many many "stainless steel" types, and they are all stain resistant, not stainless." Oh man, as a boater I can vouch for the truthfulness of that statement! I've spent hours & hours scrubbing various stains & rust from so called quality marine grade "SS". (grin) Our home's front storm/screen door is made from very heavy stainless steel/brass & powdered coated. It has to be powerwashed & scrubbed/polished every spring. (ugh) Last night after I'd suggested the Magic Eraser or Bartender, DH shouted out, "Hon, can you come look? I got the spot off the sink!!" You know guys, they'd rather do it themselves...especially when they caused the, eh, *issue*. Anyway, here's what he used. We use it to get fender marks off our boat's gelcoat. He figured if it didn't hurt Isle of Somewhere's gelcoat it wouldn't hurt the silly sink. He was right. So, I guess there's another weapon in the arsenal if anybody's else has black ugly marks on their porcelain sinks. We bought ours at West Marine but it might be available at hardware stores (but probably not...pretty sure it's a marine product). /tricia Here is a link that might be useful: 3M Boat Stuff

Thank you Shelbyronnestad. Do you have a gas stove/range (not sure if GooGone has flammable vapors). Did you use mineral oil on your counters or leave yours bare? After looking at the MilkPaint website instructional videos, I may try it again. I waxed my soapstone when my counters were fairly new--about 6 years ago. No problems until I overcleaned them during the pandemic and removed the wax in large patches. I tried to remove the remaining wax (and some nicks) by sanding it off then rewaxing. Per their videos, I didn't completely remove the old product, I used too much new product and left it on too long leaving me with the sticky, splotchy mess that I now need to remove. I really liked the Milkpaint wax the first time!!

" ... then take a four foot line level with a square one inch block on the end for the pitch reference." Hmmmm..... I didn't get that at all! I would use the string/line level for excavation .... as a guide for creating a reasonably accurate excavated pit. The pit should be a few inches larger beyond the limits of the finished patio. Tamp the sub base to the desired elevation. The edge of a straight 2x4 could help you determine that the surface is in plane. Set it on the soil, as if you were screeding, and in that process, verify if there are any depressions. Screed in one direction, and go over the whole thing again in a perpendicular direction. And you'll end up with a reasonably in plane surface. Tamp and double check the pitch and also that all depressions are filled. Once it is like a hard floor and at the correct level, install the Brock base. 3/4" PVC pipes -- two of them -- are commonly laid parallel on a tamped base (in this case Brock base) as a guide to screed sand to a 1" thickness, using a 2x4 as a screed board. Since this patio is only 8' x 8', you might could screed nearly the whole thing in one pass. It might be easier, though, if you screed out a 4' width pass, and then move one pipe pole and screed out a second pass for the other half of the patio. The retaining edge will set on the screeded sand base.

The only solution to remove dull marks is to repolish the entire countertop using professionals who use a diamond grinder. Next time, avoid installing quartz. Regardless of the manufacturer, opt for natural stone like granite or quartzite instead.