5/16/19

Soapstone for the DIY enthusiast

6 Min.

Does your idea of a fun weekend shopping trip start and end at the hardware store? Do you have an assortment of tools that rivals your neighbourhood contractor? Do you look at a working construction site and think “I could do that”…

We don’t want to alarm you, but you might be a DIYer.

At Jewett Farms + Co. we are wood people. But when we learned the properties of soapstone it became clear that this was a stone we could understand. Soapstone is an incredibly dense but relatively soft stone, making it very similar in feel and use to a hard species of wood. It can be cut, sanded and shaped using standard wood working tools – that’s how we started off and why we now confidently recommend soapstone to our DIY customers.

Soapstone DIY can range from cutting up a slab in your back yard, to simply installing the fabricated countertops in your home, with lots of options in between. Let’s explore…

churchill-1131. Go big. 

Purchase a slab of stone. A slab of soapstone typically measures 5’x9′ and weighs around 1000 lbs – that’s a big heavy piece of stone. An entire soapstone slab is pretty tough to work with, even for the hardiest home handy-man. But if you have experience working with stone, a big truck and a large space to work – it can be done.

remnants2. Scale down.

For most people, it makes more sense to figure out the sizes that you need and have the slab cut into manageable pieces by the professionals. The pieces can then be edged, sanded, cut into and installed by the weekend warrior. The pros do the heavy lifting, but you are still left with enough fabrication work to fulfill those DIY desires.

jf-0242-hero-ss-hamilton-brown-res-2

3. Let us help.

If options 1 and 2 still feel a little outside of your skill set, not to worry, we have one more option.  You can have the stone fully fabricated. In this instance, the soapstone is fabricated into finished counters using templates you provide. The edges are finished, tops sanded and any sink or cooktop cutouts made. Then all the DIYer needs to do is pick up the pieces and install them – all the glory, way less work.

At Jewett Farms + Co. we have worked with all kinds of soapstone DIY projects, from simple straight cuts  to full fabrication and we have seen some fantastic results. As with most home projects, with enough time, energy and patience, anything is possible.  Our soapstone fabricators are more than happy to chat with you, give advice on products, equipment and share their tips and tricks.

Tagged in: diysoapstone

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