Antique Brown Seams - Slight Chipping and Epoxy

[fordpickup]

Wow, thanks for the insights. It's not exactly how I want the seam to be, but after a day of looking at it, this isn't something that I'm willing to go to battle for - there are plenty of other things that I can get riled up about, like hating on Ford products for example. If I don't bring it up, people *probably* won't notice.

However (and please don't skewer me for not starting another thread), I did notice that one of the the veins that runs through the thin edge of the counter in front of the sink has an actual relief, and runs through both edges, straight through to the bottom of the slab (you can feel it on all four sides). I love the veins and mottling of the Antique Brown family, but this little guy...I don't know if this is a vein or if it could be the start of a crack, especially if I fill the sink with water over the course of normal use. Is this something to be concerned about? The installer did mention it and called it a fissure, but also said there are "rods" to help strengthen that area. I wouldn't give it a second thought if it was anywhere else on the counter.

Thanks again, your expertise is very helpful.

Top left, clockwise: top view, 3/4 view, sink side, under counter

sink.jpg (426.52KiB)Viewed 1338 times

[TheShineKing]

That is a crack. Antique Brown does have a lot of veining but that one on the sink bridge is definitely a crack.

Regarding the seam, there is 2 ways I go about repairing that. The first is to surface polish the seam as this would bring up the shine on the epoxy. Of course you will need someone to really know what they are doing, especially with antique brown. For the second option all you need is super glue (green bottle), a felt pad, some wax to buff out the super glue and razor blades. The second option is less time consuming and easier to do but the seam needs to be nice and leveled in order to do.

I have used both of those methods on many occasions with success. It's all up to whether there is someone available in your area that can do it.

[Curtis R. Marburger]

I love the veins and mottling of the Antique Brown family, but this little guy...I don't know if this is a vein or if it could be the start of a crack,

yes it is a crack HOWEVER it is perfectly normal with this stone and to be expected with this particular stone. We have this stone in our showroom as a sales tool and will post pictures next week. We have CRACK's at the sink rail of our showroom stone Antique Brown. Yes the cracks can be top polished smooth BUT not for a novice. We could recommend someone from the SFA to help your Stone Cutter through the procedures.

Really with Antique Brown this should be nothing to be concerned about .

[Andy Ross]

Lets be honest, a crack in that location is from mishandling. It wasnt there in the slab, the fabricator caused it. Im not saying your fabricator is bad, as these things happen to all of us. With that said, your best option is to live with it. Unfortunately stone is finicky, heavy, unpredictable and imperfect. If you love the color, i wouldnt press the issue. But lets call a spade a spade.

[Dan R.]

Even with rodding?
That is an unpredictable material, therefore quite an assumption, IMO. That material is very hard and brittle, I would think a handling crack would have been more horrific. Not ever cracking anything, I am unsure what one would look like.

[Nick]

It should be repaired to where you cannot feel it, or really feel it. It won't be something to worry about ever for the life of the countertops if it is filled and repaired. We use a water like acrylic for that kind of stuff, if it is done right it will never be an issue again ever. I know that homeowners do not like to hear stuff like crack or repair, but it happens in some materials and the repair is as important has the fabrication.

[Andy Ross]

4" in on the sink rail on a slight angle is how stone cracks virtually everytime on every material ive ever worked with. Rodding keeps it all together nice and tight so a repair can make it virtually disappear.

Not sure what your angle is with the sarcasm dan

[Curtis R. Marburger]

Andy , You Can Not say that Crack was caused by mishandling especially in Antique Brown , That stone is layers of cracks upon cracks .

Read the home owners post again Andy

[Dan R.]

The sarcasm is that it can happen to anyone for a myriad of reasons, even a guy who does great work and never cracks anything. The unfortunate thing is that almost everyone, assumes all stones are created equal. They simply are not and one process that works on one may not necessarily work on the next.

My "angle" is that a fabricator can do everything "right " in the process and sometimes the stone develops a crack from "normal" fabrication. The cutting, grinding and handling of material can cause fissures to open or hidden cracks to emerge. Often times, it may be outside the control of even the most seasoned fabricator.

The real spade is making wild assumptions and developing unrealistic expectations based on less than complete information. IMO, that is the real spade.

[BC Granite and Marble]

That crack can be repaired along with making the seam look better. Contact the fabricator let him know your concerns and let him come and fix it ,after that enjoy the new countertops. If your fabricator needs any advise you can tell him where to go as there are lots of experts here.

[Dan R.]

x 2

[northernrocktops]

On another note wouldn't be a bad idea to pick up a piece of wood paint or stain to color of cabinet and run it vertically between your 2 cabinet doors to add some extra support for your sink rail. just a suggestion.

[Andy Ross]

At the risk of getting in a pissing match....it is my professional opinion that the crack is from mishandling based on the position of it and the angle. I would even bet the counter on the left of the sink is longer than the counter on the right and maybe even has an l on the left side. EVERY sink rail i have ever broken looked EXACTLY like that in the EXACT same spot. Every sink rail i have ever seen cracked looked exactly like that one. Some on the left and some on the right. But this stone magically has a "natural fissure" in the exqct same spot because it is antique brown? Thats just where sink rails break. And sink rails only break from mishandling. Imo, if it isnt broken when it comes off the saw, the only way it will break is from fabricator error. Some material is hyper sensitive and we will break and need to repair stuff, but that crack was caused by someone moving it. If it was my top, i would make a repair and let the homeowner inspect it. They would approve because my repairs are awesome and we would move on. It is so fixable.

[ChrisYaughn]

We have been out of the Stone world for a year, but.....

Sometimes cameras make seams look much better or worse than they are. Assuming the pic is a solid reference.

The seam is what we would have called a "big fat steaming pile of.... average". It is average for the industry but never what we would have liked to consider "OK". Of course we have a few of those seams in homes (with very happy clients, oddly) before we knew better. It can be made to look better. You should always expect to be able to feel it and see it, but it can be made better.

Assuming you can feel the white line in the sink rail, the sink rail wasn't "cracked" like that when it left the shop. It is now that it is in the home. The only thing that happened between the two was handling. Not saying it could have been prevented, but it might could have been. Regardless, the upside is, the stone looks great, and the sink rail can be easily reworked in the home.

If your fabricator isn't comfortable or willing to make it better, refer them here. This group is off the charts about helping others learn how to improve their skill sets.

[Dan R.]

We must be unusual to all of Andy's experiences of cracked tops. We have had several mysteriously break after we have left the job site. We even have pics of perfectly set pieces that end up cracked. It is possible that the fabricator could have effected this. It is also likely that he did not. The end game is that no matter how it cracked, is that it can be repaired and only a stone guy can do it.

Just the lateness of this issue being posted, gives me pause that this may not have occurred exactly at install. No matter, it is fixable and everyone seems to be on the same page for a fix, even.......

[Curtis R. Marburger]

For what it is worth and I do realize it is extremely difficult to educate a client after the sale. I do not know who fabricated this kitchen and really don't care if it would be the shop down the street beating us up on price. This is a very difficult business to be in because as you see It is all subjective to someone Else's opinion. We do our best to educate the client before the sale and we are supposed to Know thy stone.
If you were to walk in our showroom today this is what you would see and if you were to choose a stone like Antique Brown you would get a education on your stone and you also would be told to " Expect a Crack " at the sink rail. This is simply from our experience working with this stone. We also know how to treat Cracks in this stone when they show up.

[Dan R.]

There are enough white veins in that material to easily blend the repair into the rest of the pattern. If you look at the edge only in the crack pic, you can not tell which line is the corked, looking only at the front. A fill and polish should resolve this issue.

[warestone331]

Mmmm Antique Brown I love and hate this stone

We had some similar experience with this stone. Pretty chippy and my guy who normally does any surface polishing hated it But in the end it turned out pretty sweet.

Dan I am curious as what the renu is? Is that the contact cleaner? hehe

[Dan R.]

Mmmm Antique Brown I love and hate this stone

We had some similar experience with this stone. Pretty chippy and my guy who normally does any surface polishing hated it But in the end it turned out pretty sweet.

Dan I am curious as what the renu is? Is that the contact cleaner? hehe

Jeremy,

It is a chemical polishing agent for professionals.

[HurricaneWayne]

So the correct answer is Its industry standard, but not SFA standard. Two entirely different things. It sets SFA apart. On another note, just got back from Coverings, as usual, learned a ton. Good time. I figured something else too, I always come back inspired and motivated. That there is worth the price.

[Dan R.]

So the correct answer is Its industry standard, but not SFA standard. Two entirely different things. It sets SFA apart. On another note, just got back from Coverings, as usual, learned a ton. Good time. I figured something else too, I always come back inspired and motivated. That there is worth the price.

JACKPOT!
On both accounts.

[Curtis R. Marburger]

So the correct answer is Its industry standard, but not SFA standard. Two entirely different things. It sets SFA apart. On another note, just got back from Coverings, as usual, learned a ton. Good time. I figured something else too, I always come back inspired and motivated. That there is worth the price.

JACKPOT!
On both accounts.

X2

was pondering how far it would go till someone would catch onto that.

I still say it is an "Industry Standard" seam and nothing wrong with it that can not be taken care of.

[BellaTerra]

So the correct answer is Its industry standard, but not SFA standard. Two entirely different things. It sets SFA apart. On another note, just got back from Coverings, as usual, learned a ton. Good time. I figured something else too, I always come back inspired and motivated. That there is worth the price.

JACKPOT!
On both accounts.

X2

was pondering how far it would go till someone would catch onto that.

I still say it is an "Industry Standard" seam and nothing wrong with it that can not be taken care of.

My thoughts as well. Our goal should be to keep the customer happy. Why point out to someone who has a '68 Mustang that it looks nice but that the '69 Mustang looks sooooo much better.
Dan has been on point, some stone no matter how careful you are is going to crack. You can see on the bridge of this customer's top that there are plenty of fissures in that area and one of them progressed into a crack. It may have or have not been avoidable either way assuming one way or another doesn't make the situation better.
Stay positive and supportive of the customer.

[BellaTerra]

Help make the best of the situation. No point in ranting about how good, bad or otherwise the situation is, it is what it is now what can we do to improve it.

[ashes]

Now that it's already installed, this is hard to deal with to make it better. I see three options.

Uninstall both pieces. Clean off the epoxy. With a guild clamped on the seam, grind the chips back about 1/16th of an inch from both pieces. Fill and polish large chips before resetting the seam. Use a lot of black colour in the new epoxy. This colour looks brown from some angles, and black from others, so the seam colour will never be quite right. After the epoxy is completely hard and shaved down, you can buff it with a cotton buffer, with no pressure, to make it shinier.

Second option, with a propane torch and a razor blade, heat and remove as much epoxy as possible, and redo the seam with liquid epoxy. Again, with lots of black colour.

Liquid epoxy's dry shinier than paste epoxy.

Third option, just buff it with a cotton buffing wheel, with no pressure. If you push down it will remove the epoxy.

This is a normal looking seam with that colour. It can be a real can of worms trying to make it better.