Marble Stone is one of the oldest and most beautiful stones, has been used for both decorative and functional purposes within arhitectural design for thousand of years.
Because of it’s effort and expenses to quarry the material, the earliest uses of marble was mainly in public, religious or government
Some of the most famous sculptures in the world used marble in many major art movements showcasing its timeless popularity.
There are a few materials that evoke high-end living as simply and effectively as marble Stone. It has been used for some of the world’s most notable structures, from the Pantheon in Rome and Taj Mahal in Agra to London’s Marble Arch beside the Peace Monument in Washington DC and the Persepolis.
Greeks and Romans searched for a more lasting material to build their structure, it wasn’t long until they recognized the durability of natural stone, especially the beauty of marble.
Marble began to appear within te houses of the Greeks and Romans, but because it was hard and expensive to obtain it was considered a mark of wealth.
How can we see marble in so many houses today?
Thanks to the improvements in technology that made quarrying marble stone faster and more efficient than ever before.
Now it’s used a wet cutting with specialized blades and equipment that can easily transport the stone, that means a lower production cost. The polishing methods greatly reduce the time and effort to create the perfect bathroom vanity top or marble counter top.
Now, anyone can afford to use marble in their houses, a a highly durable and impact resistant material.
Marble Stone – from quarries to finishing
The process through witch the marble goes from the quarries until it is loaded into containers is complex, going through several stages.
Depending on your needs, each marble block is cut into slabs or according to the measures required to be used in different projects.
Marble processing stages:
- Marble mining
- Arrival and unloading of marble blocks
- Marble cutting
- Strengthening and polishing
- Slab storage
- Loading
The First Stage of Marble Stone processing: Mining
The beauty of the marble comes from within. The different color lines on it can look like they were painted, but actually these designed are already in the marble when it is found and mined.
The size and method of marble block extraction depend on the quarry, normally the extraction is done in vertical cuts but there may be cases when it’s done horizontally. This depends on the morphology of the area
Each marble block extracted from the quarry is classified according to certain quality criteria, such as:
- Block size
- Tones
- Amount of streaks: the lower the amount of streaks, the higher quality and better classification
- Cleanliness: clean materials are those with no stain
- Cracks
Arrival and unloading
After the marble blocks have been extracted from the quarry, they are transported for processing. The block are unloaded and sorted prior to being sawed.
Due to the impressive dimensions, the marble block are handled with special machines and cranes, throughout the entire procese.
The blocks of marble Stone are stored until the next phase: the marble processing.
Marble cutting
For cutting the marble blocks is used a multi wire or block cutters. Depending on the size, the blockd are cut using different machinery. The big blocks are processed in the multi wire cutter, and for smaller, irregular blocks is used a block cutter. Using this machine reduces losses as much as possible.
A multi wire cutter produces slabs and a block cutter produces strips that will be processed by the mitre saw or cutter to create tiles.
Marble Stone strengthening and polishing
The marble is strengthened by adding a glass fibre net on the back face of the marble slabs for further resistance. This process will strengthen the slabs which are fragile and to enable safe handling and transportation.
Polishing process is done with the polishing machine, is used for making the surface even and then polishing the marble slabs for getting a smooth ans shiny surface. This process can be used in order to chance its appearance and to produce different finishes.
Slab storage
Once the desired finish is achieved, they are either displayed in the showroom or are ready to be shipped.
Marble Stone loading and shipment
This is the last step before arriving and being used in the most beautiful and amazing projects.
Marble Store processing is a complicated process, but being a stone of mesmerizing beauty, it deserves everything that this implies to provide uniqueness to each project.
