Thank you, Mark I bookmarked all of them and perused a couple, which led me to more.

I particularly liked the U Texas link, then followed it to the granite/ice cream link. That was great, and possibly something that we can use to help sell.

Searching through these links led me to what I am sure was the link I originally had in mind when I started this. Here it is:

http://www.findstone.com/daniel1.htm

Keep em coming, though, there is a lot out there to sift through.

Posted By Jeff Handley on 20 Apr 2010 03:12 PM

Jeff, water absorption at .32%, I'm sure that percentage is by weight? Also do you know how the water absorption test is done, time period, submersion, etc.???

Norm,
You are correct, it is by weight, and done through a submersion test.
Most of that NSW information is done to EN standards and testing.
While I do not know the full difference between EN and ASTM tests, We know that the C97 (Test Methods for Absorption and bulk specific gravity of Dimension Stone) includes:
Drying the specimen in an oven for 48 hrs. at 140 degrees. The stone is weighed at hrs 46,47,& 48 to be sure it contains no moisture weight.
Immersion of the specimen in filtered or distilled water for 48 hrs.
Then it is surface dried with a damp cloth and weighed to the nearest .0005 oz.
the dried weight and wet weight are then plugged into a formula giving you the absorption percentage.

Jeff

Hi Norm,

There is a huge difference between ASTM and EU tests. In the US, its ASTM, C series for stone, concrete and D series for plastics like solid surface. The EU uses ISO tests ,and has MRA's with the member nations (mutual recognition agreements) that recognize DIN tests in Germany etc.

You bring up a valid point, as a member of ASTM (I write these tests) and also a member of TC 61, the ASTM technical advisory committe to ISO, I am somewhat familiar with these tests.

Traditionally ISO means nothing in the US, we defer to ASTM. And ASTM water absorbtion test (ASTM D-570) for plastics has many parts as do the ISO's and the ASTM tests for other products .  ASTM for plastics test, which I read over today in order to quote for a CHinese company (ASTM D-570) has the 2 hour boiling water absorbtion, the 24 ambient  water absorbtion, and long term absorbtion (where it comes to equillibrium) along with other tests/parameters..

In any of these tests you need to quote the subsection of the testing because they all mean different things and yield different numbers.

BTW on a personal note, my wife was recently remembering when she met your wife at the 2009 solid surface show. Those 2 really hit it off, and made me smile!

Lenny, my wife and I celebrated our 25th anniversary last April, she's a keeper for sure. She is a nurse and when I am slow with my work she puts in some overtime, quite a well functioning unit we are.

Norm ,

Susan is a nurse? Thats so cool. I imagine you get  your sprains bandaged for free, and also free flu shots!

All joking and kidding aside, your wife like mine are both keepers! I dont know why we deserve them, I guess we are both lucky guys!

My wife helps me alot in the business, with introductions, tips on oriental culture, translation etc.

Where would we be without them?

Posted By Lenny E on 20 Aug 2010 09:39 PM
Norm ,


My wife helps me alot in the business, with introductions, tips on oriental culture, translation etc.

Where would we be without them?

So it was your wife that taught you the Chinese drinking customs.

Kevin's link (04 Apr 2010 09:23 AM, above) was the link I was looking for, but I find myself going to another page on the same site (actually part of the sameposting). It can be found here:
http://www.findstone.com/daniel1.htm

This page contains an image of the stereotypical granite. Move your cursor within the image, and will redirect to a definition of that part of the stone. Pretty cool, really. link is here:
http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rmr/defin...n.html#map



Thanks again, Kevin for the link.

I just realized that I found that page thanks to Mark, posting at [16 Aug 2010 04:35 PM] above. Thanks for that Texas link, Mark.

There is really some great stone info out there. It helps me to convince the consumer why I'm better than that home center store guy to buy from.

Those websites are packed full of information. Thanks

Glad to share......still learning myself!

Maurizio Bertoli recommended a book a while back. "Rocks and Minerals" by Simon and Schuster. A little learning curve. Its a petrology book, has pictures and descriptions of just about everything. I read it from time to time, still trying to figure out a lot of the terminology.

Thank you for the reference.
It seems to be a study that, the more you learn, the more you find you don't know.

From a selfish standpoint, I find it makes me much more attractive to a customer (knowledge-wise, there is no hope for me otherwise) than the cheapie guy down the road. I originally though that I only needed just enough to get by, but there is some great info to be had out there in mineralville.

Tom,

That's an excellent suggestion, Michelle. I need a bigger showroom.
I keep hitting refresh on that webmineral.com page you posted. I should yell at myself for wasting shop time, but it's too cool.

I now have three more bookmarked sites. Thank you!

When I was a 4-H er in my youth, I had rock collections entered in the fairs. I assume all the samples ended up in my head. At least that's where everyone told me the rocks were.