New to forum, stone refinishing

[Tinker]

I did a lot of stone fireplace hearths and stair treads in my stone work days.  If they needed polishing, i had the above mentioned "artist" do both cutting and polishing.  I did a lot of snapped edges for hearths and treads that I did my self.  For custom jobs, I did the work with hammer & chisel as did my friend, the stone cutter.  For speculation contract jobs, I used a diamond blade or carborundum (before diamond blades became affordable) blades to score and then snapped the edges.  When scoring with the saw blades, there was always a cloud of dust.  The dust would settle over quite a large area.  When I had my friend do cutting and polishing, he had a huge water table to work on and there was no dust, just a huge amount of sludge to dispose of.  I am understanding that you guys polishing with the RO's, Makitas, Milwaukees and etc. and are using dry paper. How often do you have to change/empty the bags on your dust collectors.

When sanding wood with my RO 150, as with my other Festoy sanders, I turn the vac way down for better control.  Do you find any problems with the vac hoses loading up with a slower speed on your sanders and do you slow the vac down at same time?
Tinker

 

[tbellemare]

I have used a Rotex 150 to shape and smooth landscaping limestone slabs on more than one occasion.  I have used Saphir and the old Rubin. If I were to do it now, I'd use Granat.

Getting to about P120, the little, petrified looking fossils start to pop. The contrast looks cool, the dark hiding in the creamy white. I did a table top for what looks like a coffee table but acts as an entertainment center that way. I took it to P180 and then sealed it with some Teflon infused stone sealer. It came out real nice.

Be sure to use dust extraction or the pad gets too hot. It is phenomenally nicer without all that dust in the air anyway.

Tom