Processing of marble and granite

All the phases that lead from the raw material to the finished product, with particular reference to the materials treated by us.

Marble and granite are extracted in the quarries in the form of blocks.

The blocks extracted in Italy or on the European continent are transported by truck to the sawmills to be cut.

The blocks extracted abroad, in other continents such as Asia and more precisely in India, the country from which our quartzites come, are first transported from the quarry to the nearest port by road train and then loaded onto large merchant ships where they travel in containers or in the hold up to an Italian port where they are first unloaded and then reloaded again on trucks headed for depots or sawmills.
At the sawmills the cutting operations are carried out and therefore the transformation of the blocks into slabs and subsequently the various processes.

Cutting blocks of marble and granite

The cutting of the blocks takes place with special machines called looms.
Multi-blade frames equipped with diamond blades are usually used to cut marble slabs: the advantage of diamond tools is that they make the cut extremely quickly and precisely.
The solution adopted to cut the slabs depends on the hardness of the materials: granite is notoriously harder to cut and finish than marble.
Multi-blade grit looms are therefore frequently used for sawing granite, and traditional looms have recently been joined by more modern multi-wire looms for sawing granite and quartzite.

The slabs obtained with the cut can have a thickness ranging from 1 cm to a maximum thickness of about 30 cm: slabs less than one cm would be fragile and not very resistant; higher thicknesses, on the other hand, make it possible to face the subsequent processing phases and avoid breakages in the materials.

Over 30 cm we no longer speak of slabs but of “blocks“.

Once the slabs have been obtained, what are the most common processes, suitable both for enhancing the aesthetic qualities and for protecting the resistance of the materials?

Polishing is the most common, typical of internal environments and has the purpose of eliminating impurities and porosity.

Sanding is a technique required above all for outdoor spaces, more exposed to atmospheric agents which deprive the material of its reflective capacity but increase its resistance to rain and other phenomena.

Brushing, on the other hand, gives the stone a “lived-in” look, almost as if to create small imperfections for a less shiny but elegant effect.

Flaming consists of treating the slabs at high temperatures to obtain a natural and raw effect particularly suitable for materials such as quartzite.

Then we have sandblasting to satinize the surfaces, the rejection from which non-slip qualities derive which are very suitable for outdoor areas such as swimming pools, rolling, the wen-pec treatment and many, many others.

If you need more information about our marble and granite processing, contact us by phone or write to us by filling out the form below.