Soapstone

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Wright

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Apr 15, 2012
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Jasper, Alabama
I've read all the safety and MSDS info on the hazards of soapstone dust. A good respirator and ventilation is a must. I've never worked with this stone and I have a few questions on working with it as far as turning and cutting the stone:

Do you need a diamond saw to cut it?
Can you turn it with a Woodchuck Pen Pro?
Do you wet sand it?
How do you polish it?
Is it softer than Alabaster?
 
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PTsideshow

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Dec 26, 2011
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Macomb County Michigan
I've read all the safety and MSDS info on the hazards of soapstone dust. A good respirator and ventilation is a must. I've never worked with this stone and I have a few questions on working with it as far as turning and cutting the stone:

Do you need a diamond saw to cut it? No a hacksaw with a fine tooth blade
Can you turn it with a Woodchuck Pen Pro? yes

Do you wet sand it? yes

How do you polish it? same as with the plastics finer and finer grits. then wax if that the finish you want.

Is it softer than Alabaster? Yes and no depending on what other mineral are in it's make up. Alabaster is a fine grain gypsum which is around two on the Moh's scale of hardness, soaptsone /talc is a 1 Diamond is a 10.
:clown:
 

NewLondon88

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May 15, 2008
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Claremont NH
to add to what PT said, the hardness is going to depend on the
particular piece of soapstone, too. Soapstone has a high talc content
which makes it soft. But it isn't uniform. Plus, there are different
types of soapstone.
I've cut Vermont soapstone on the bandsaw and it went OK with an old
blade.. but it varied a lot. You'd be chugging along and all of a sudden
the stone would fly through the saw and then stall. There's soft and
hard spots within the space of millimeters.

You can turn it with carbide tools, but just to be safe I'd turn with
a rasp till I got close. No sense in dulling good tools needlessly.
Wet sand.. dry sand... hell, I'd put on some junk bushings, turn on
the fan, grab a mask and hit the blank with a random orbital sander
while the lathe is running. Don't try to finesse until you get close..
.. we're talking about rocks.
 

low_48

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Jul 1, 2004
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Location
Peoria, IL, USA.
I've worked a block of soapstone that I bought at Dick Blick, and then a block directly from a California quarry at work. Both of them cut like basswood. A wood bandsaw blade flies through it. I used a skew on the pen I turned. I found a vein through it when it got thin, and it took thin CA to fill and hold that together. Ever use a soapstone marker to mark steel for welding or cutting? It almost feels like a crayon. Really, it doesn't feel like stone at all.
 

NewLondon88

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May 15, 2008
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I've worked a block of soapstone that I bought at Dick Blick, and then a block directly from a California quarry at work. Both of them cut like basswood. A wood bandsaw blade flies through it. I used a skew on the pen I turned. I found a vein through it when it got thin, and it took thin CA to fill and hold that together. Ever use a soapstone marker to mark steel for welding or cutting? It almost feels like a crayon. Really, it doesn't feel like stone at all.

Remember.. there are different types of soapstone. You are referring
to the one commonly used by artists, carvers etc. It has a much higher
talc content and is therefore softer. The other type of soapstone is
commonly used for kitchen countertops, stoves, fireplaces etc. and
is much harder, This one DOES feel like stone, although with a soapy
feel. It has a lower talc % and that can vary throughout the piece. Some
parts will cut like a hard wood while others will stall like you're cutting
granite.
The artistic soapstone is a snap to cut. You could probably make a
pen with a pocket knife. But it's usually white/gray and not much of
a pattern.. not much to look at. But steatite can be gray, green, brown,
gold, red.. with lots of patterns running through it.
 

Wright

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Apr 15, 2012
Messages
628
Location
Jasper, Alabama
So steatite soapstone is hard and artist soapstone is soft? I was at Hobby Lobby yesterday and they have the artist soapstone I suppose. It was for carving. It had some color but mostly dark and light gray.
 

PTsideshow

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Dec 26, 2011
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Macomb County Michigan
On the Mohs scale of hardness,
you can scrape talc with a finger nail (1 hardness)
you can scratch gypsum with a finger nail (2 hardness)
a copper penny is about a (4 hardness)
a pocket knife is about a (6 hardness)
a steel file is about a (7 hardness)
quartz will scratch window glass About(7 hardness)
This was in the boy scout hand books, in one style or other for years.
The Mohs scale is a relative scale, Mohs hardness is always meant when dealers and buyers meet.When dealing gemstones.
The type of other materials veins running thru the parent rock will also effect the relative hardness. And as been stated can vary in the same inch long segment of the chunk.
I just checked Dick Blick no longer seems to carry soapstone they still have all the tools for working it but no longer the actual stone.
:clown:
 

Wright

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Apr 15, 2012
Messages
628
Location
Jasper, Alabama
Thanks Glen, I had one of those scales around here somewhere but misplaced it. I was thinking about buying some soapstone from Hobby Lobby and experiment with it.
 
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