Looking For Marble Or Granite

[Thumper]

Good Morning,

I'm looking for a more affordable way to get 2 of the 1-1/2" thick slabs of marble or granite for doing my tooling. Right now, all I have is a large piece of corian and it's loud when tooling. My daughter has taken off on leather work now and I need to get her one as well, so now I'm trying to find an affordable way to get 2 piece of stone to tool leather on top of. Tandy get $40 per sq ft for the slabs and I know that St. Louis Leather gets like $20 each for marble slab...but shipping would bring it up to what Tandy is charging.

My daughter and I are getting started in this and trying to keep our costs low...so I'm trying to be frugal with what we have and trying to find resources where we can for the items we need.

Is there an alternative to the 1-1/2" slabs? What do you use if you don't use a slab to tool/carve on?

This fall, we hope to have a dedicated part of my shop for just doing leather work and upholstery. So a work area will be great, but I just gotta get the money together to buy materials to finish the room in my shop for the leather/upholstery part of the shop.

I guess I've rambled on long enough. If you can help with advice or pointers, I'd greatly appreciate it.

[JJLeatherworks]

Go to your local tombstone maker. You usually can get small pieces free, or one about the size of a pet marker for around 20-30 bucks.

[russell]

you can also look at someone that does marb le counter tops too

Good Morning,

I'm looking for a more affordable way to get 2 of the 1-1/2" thick slabs of marble or granite for doing my tooling. Right now, all I have is a large piece of corian and it's loud when tooling. My daughter has taken off on leather work now and I need to get her one as well, so now I'm trying to find an affordable way to get 2 piece of stone to tool leather on top of. Tandy get $40 per sq ft for the slabs and I know that St. Louis Leather gets like $20 each for marble slab...but shipping would bring it up to what Tandy is charging.

My daughter and I are getting started in this and trying to keep our costs low...so I'm trying to be frugal with what we have and trying to find resources where we can for the items we need.

Is there an alternative to the 1-1/2" slabs? What do you use if you don't use a slab to tool/carve on?

This fall, we hope to have a dedicated part of my shop for just doing leather work and upholstery. So a work area will be great, but I just gotta get the money together to buy materials to finish the room in my shop for the leather/upholstery part of the shop.

I guess I've rambled on long enough. If you can help with advice or pointers, I'd greatly appreciate it.

[Ferg]

you can also look at someone that does marb le counter tops too

You can get large marble tiles at Home Depot or Lowe's. I assure you, if you have a nice flat table/bench with a piece of cloth under the tile you will not be disappointed.

The price is right. LOL

ferg

[azrider]

I asked the countertop salesperson at home depot what they do with the old samples of granite once they aren't avalible anymore. She said they just throw them out, so I explained what I wanted to do with them. They hadn't carried any to the dumpster for a while, so she gave me 8 of the samples. They are around 9x18, but work pretty well for tooling. I use a rubber mat under them to keep the noise down in the house.

[dirtclod]

Thumper i got mine from Enco http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PMAKA=640-0120&PMPXNO=949402&PARTPG=INLMK3 . When i got mine they had free shipping and may still have it, i didn't check. But the price is right.

[shotgunwilllie]

I got two from the local cemetary that are used under the bronze memorial plaquards . Both have minir chips in the corners and are 4 inches by 24 inches t at $5.00 a piece ya cant beat it ! and use rubber stall matting underneth for sound deadening works great for me!

Good Luck

Bill

[JJLeatherworks]

I got two from the local cemetary that are used under the bronze memorial plaquards . Both have minir chips in the corners and are 4 inches by 24 inches t at $5.00 a piece ya cant beat it ! and use rubber stall matting underneth for sound deadening works great for me!

Good Luck

Bill

Did ya wait till after dark to get em??

In reality I worked in Colma CA, home of all the dead in San Francisco. Any hoo I could have taken any of the used markers I wanted there. For If your dead and you've been dug up for what ever reason the marker

is tossed aside.

[bruce johnson]

I have done most of my lighter stuff lately on a piece of granite countertop that is 1-1/4". It is large and alright for small things, but noisy and not as good for bigger stamps. It was free. I have a broken headstone and small granite surface plate that are 3". I like them better, but the height is not as handy on top of bench. I am building a bench with an inlaid stone and need the edges square to inlay it. I am going with a 3" granite surface plate. The best deal I found with price and shipping combined in the sizes I am looking at is from Grizzly.

[bdt46]

I've had a large machinists granite block for several years, it came from Grizzley Tools in Springfield, Missouri. The price was the most reasonable of any place that I tried to find a stone at. They have several sizes available.