Granite Vs Marble

[Mike516]

I'll start by saying I'm just getting started in learning leather working. I'm working on getting some tools together I'm going to need for practice and have a question.

I looked around the forums and saw a lot of threads devoted to setting up a shop, and different types of slabs used to work on. I couldn't find an answer to my question so I figured I'd just ask;

What's better for a stable surface to work on, granite or marble? I'm going to go to a stone place I know of near me and I'll take whatever scrap piece they'd be willing to give me, but given a choice...

Which is better, granite or marble?

What's a good thickness?

And what's a good size if I'm not making a whole table out of it?

Thanks.

[HellfireJack]

Granite is more durable. You can mar the surface of marble with steel tools. Marble is also more susceptible to damage from heat.

The darker the granite, the more dense it will be, the stronger it will be.

I would go with the largest block you can get. I wouldn't get anything smaller than 1'x1'

[Kevin]

A nice 4" thick piece of granite is good. Before I got that, I had a 1 1/2"x 12"x 12" and thought that was great. Almost anything is better than the 3/16" piece of Masonite that Tandy sold and I'm sure a lot of us started out with.

Kevin

[dirtclod]

Marble is hard but soft at the same time. Take a look in a Cemetery at the older marble stones the names and dates will be hard to read because their worn so bad and that's just from the weather. Get a granite surface plate from Enco or Grizzly both or on the web.

[Mike516]

Thanks guys. I appreciate the advice.

[tnawrot2]

I use a 6" grave stone turned over for my tooling, I went to a grave stone maker and asked for one that was scrap (misspelled name) and bough it for $10.00. I use a 1 3/8" piece of 12" x 24" piece of granite I picked up at a place that makes counter tops, it was in their scrap pile and I paid $20.00. You have to think out of the box, and be creative.

[Mike516]

Ya. There's a place in my area where I bought all the pavers for my patio - I'll just mention I'm a returning customer . They sell granite there and I figure all places like that have scrap of some sort. The only bad thing is most of their scrap will probably be broken pieces and it'll cost more to cut it into a square than it would be to just buy a pre-cut piece from somewhere. I don't have any heavy duty tools so I couldn't cut it myself.

There are several headstone makers around here also so that's a possibility but 6" thick? That's going to be pretty heavy even if it's just a 12"x12" won't it?

[Sylvia]

Ya. There's a place in my area where I bought all the pavers for my patio - I'll just mention I'm a returning customer . They sell granite there and I figure all places like that have scrap of some sort. The only bad thing is most of their scrap will probably be broken pieces and it'll cost more to cut it into a square than it would be to just buy a pre-cut piece from somewhere. I don't have any heavy duty tools so I couldn't cut it myself.

There are several headstone makers around here also so that's a possibility but 6" thick? That's going to be pretty heavy even if it's just a 12"x12" won't it?

Yeah a grave stone will be heavy. But They say that nothing can beat a big hold hunk of granite like that. (No bounce at all) My husband went to a granite counter top place and got me a sink cut for free. I'd guess it's about 2 inches thick, and a bathroom sink size cut out. It probably weights about 20lbs. Your mileage may vary on price but either way you will notice a considerable difference in sound and bounce no matter where you put the granite. (Mine's on a tiny metal bistro table until spring)

[dirtclod]

I used a piece of granite that was about a 1 inch thick for several years and it worked fine but a 3 or 4 inch thick works even better.

[tnawrot2]

Ya. There's a place in my area where I bought all the pavers for my patio - I'll just mention I'm a returning customer . They sell granite there and I figure all places like that have scrap of some sort. The only bad thing is most of their scrap will probably be broken pieces and it'll cost more to cut it into a square than it would be to just buy a pre-cut piece from somewhere. I don't have any heavy duty tools so I couldn't cut it myself.

There are several headstone makers around here also so that's a possibility but 6" thick? That's going to be pretty heavy even if it's just a 12"x12" won't it?

I was wrong, first time this year, it is only 4" thick.