18" X 24" X 3" Black Granite Surface Plate

[johnggrg]

Why waist the money? I have a slab I bought from a Headstone shop. It is 12x24x3 granite. They had made a mistake on the name and I got it for $20.00 out the door. I talked with him for a few and he said there is always a stone with a mistake. All I did was put the printed side down. That leaves me with a very smooth side to work with. Save your money. Go to a place that sells headstones and monuments. Best $20.00 I ever spent. Then save the other $80.00. Hope this helps someone. john

[infomage]

Another resource would be a counter top shop. If you goto the place where they are cutting the stone you can get leftover pieces cheapor free. I went for the expensive custom cut and got a 5' X24" X 2"for $100 which will be the top to my new workbench now that my Federal Job isnot getting in the way.

tlong

Think Positive Be Positive

[particle]

I got a free sink cut-out awhile back from a guy that does the granite counter tops for my dad's apartment building projects. My dad asked if he could set aside one of the cutouts for me. The guy was trying to be helpful, so he applied a fiberglass mesh to the back and epoxied it in place. I suppose he was trying to strengthen the slab. Nice gesture, but I had two problems with it. The first being that the mesh scratches up my table top. Second being that it creates an uneven surface on the back, which actually increased the chances of cracking the slab when you start pounding on it - which is exactly what happened. If you go the way of counter top sink cutouts, make sure they don't glue anything to the back so it will sit nice and flat on your work surface.

[Gawdzilla]

18" x 18" x 1/2" marble tiles from Loew's for $4.99 each. I put four of them together, rough sides facing each other in two layers.