Guild Forum

Vol.2 No.6
July 2003

Cutting & Shaping Marble

By Jack Blackham

Q. What are the techniques for cutting, shaping and finishing marble?

A. To cut marble you must use a water-cooled diamond saw. The marble can be finished by wet sanding it with silicone carbide sandpaper, using course grit to start with, then wet sanding with finer grits of sand paper. I start out with 180 grit then using finer grits go to 220, 400, and 600. Some types of marble require 1200 grit as a final sanding. Then the marble must be polished. A felt wheel with aluminum oxide or cerium oxide will work with most marbles. Some marbles, however, require different polishing compounds.

When I shape marble I use a diamond band saw. To cut the ogee edge I use a diamond router. Carbide would dull too quickly and chip the marble. Some soft marbles can be shaped with a high carbon steel file, but the file will dull quickly.


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