What is recommended for protecting and possibly hardening the surface of a soapstone countertop?
Please ensure us that there is an experience behind the recommendation and not just theory….Mike. Feb 8. R4: Dear Mike, It is highly unlikely that there is a natural process that will noticeably harden your soapstone countertop. Depending on your mineralogy (established by petrographic analysis and/or X-Ray diffraction) you might be able to have it kiln-dried. This will cause some dehydration of the hydrous magnesium silicates and probably the recrystallization of some minerals into anhydrous or lesshydrous forms. However, it might also induce some dimensional instability because that rock variety is commonly mineralogically and texturally heterogeneous. Elevated thermal conditions could push it and pull it in different ways. Having said that, your sculptor was quite right in what he said and you in fact provided the explanation by the word “exposed”. It is only when the stone is opened up that it can be exposed to air and therefore the process of drying. Most stone when quarried beh
