Processing Procedures and Techniques for Natural-Face Stone

Selecting Raw Material

The initial process in processing natural stone slabs is the choice of the raw material. In the case of natural stone, raw materials must be solid and without cracks, since during processing, cracks may result in a break of the stone, which may impact the final product. The rough material thickness is normally more than 10mm thicker than the finished product thickness, in a way that gives room to further handling and enables tools to cut deeper into the stone to be further processed.

Cutting the Rough Material

The coarse stone is also chiseled into standard stone slabs as per the production demand. The rough-cut material size and quality are direct indications of the following process outcomes. In the case of natural stone, cutting is very important, particularly during the groove and splitting. Any mistake in the cutting might lead to the dissimilar splits, and it will have adverse effects on the final product.

Grooving Process

Grooving is a very important process in the processing of large-sized natural stone. A bridge cutter is normally applied to engrave grooves on the stone surface every 100mm to 200mm deep, at least 10mm to make the splitting process easier. The groving process gives an accurate cutting guide to the splitting of the large stone slabs so that the faces split are natural and beautiful.

Splitting the Natural Face

It is a stone splitting machine that splits the grooved stone by layers in the direction of the width (or height) of the stone to produce a natural face effect. This is a delicate process, particularly when dealing with natural stone, in that the surface of every stone should be smooth, and there should be no visible cracks or defects. In the case of big slabs, the edges of the grooves also have to be trimmed out in detail to ensure that the areas of the cut are lost in the natural surface.

 
Surface Treatment

Because of the possibility of the formation of white spots on the surface after grooving the stone, concentrated hydrochloric acid may be applied in the treatment of the white spots, which will change their color to the natural color of the stone. The treated surface makes it smoother and more uniform, which is necessary to increase the aesthetic and durability of the natural stone slabs.

Inspection

Once all processing has been done rigorous inspection is done. The thickness of the stone is also monitored to ascertain that they match the necessary specifications, and the surface is also inspected to ascertain that it is smooth and there are no depressions. The deviation in thickness of natural stone must be between 1mm and +2mm to permit proper fitting during the later construction.

Protective Treatment

Lastly, stone sealer is applied on the surface to enhance the hardness of the granite and avoid staining. The sealer is successful in giving the stone water and oil resistance and therefore increases the life of the stone and resistance to stain, making sure that the natural stone can work well in real life.