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A guy stops in today. He was sent by a customer in Tampa. He was looking for someone to test cut a new product his company will be bringing to market. “Crystallized Glass”. Kind of looks like engineered marble to me. Only 5 colors at this time, Made in China. Slabs in 3cm and 12mm. For use in countertops, on floors etc… Scratch resistant (allegedly) impervious to staining (alegedly) etc…
But, they don’t know what to push for cutting it. We’ll figure it out. More competition in the ever changing world of countertops. Go figure…
Let us know what you find out about it. It sounds like the same stuff our Staron distributor was thinking about selling about 4 years ago. Do you have a link?
No Andy, no link. This was a real weird introduction. We get so many calls a day and so many walk-ins that this one stood out. It actually looks like cultured marble on steroids. Supposed to be harder than granite. We will see when we cut it and bore it in the morning.
Alright, we tested this product by cutting it on a bridge saw with 20″ Italdiamant 20mm mega segment blade. Remember, the guy starts off telling me “it’s, 5 times harder than granite”. Bull! It cuts like a cross between cultured marble and flour mixed with sand.
We then drilled it with an Alpha 1 3/8″ Dry core drill. It shattered around the core. In otherwords, the edge of the cut flaked. To top it off, the dust made you itch!
Utter Chinese mung…In my opinion.
I’m not kiddin you Kelsey, my sales manager comes back in, immediately heads for the mens room and starts scrubbing his arms. Unfortunately, I had already picked up the cut pieces and then I start doing the scratchy azz dance.
There is something about some stuff coming from China alright. We have been cutting a lot of 3CM solid surface as of late and the dust kills me. When we process other solid sarface material I dont need to wear a dust mask but as soon as we run a particular brand of 3CM everyone in the shop gets headaches, red, runny eyes etc and has to wear a dust mask.
John
John, I would submit that cutting any solid surface should require a dust mask as I don’t believe we truly know the effects on ones lungs yet. 20 years from now, I believe we’ll know who wore them and who did not.
As far as what is in the Chinese stuff, I’m pretty sure the Chinese government could not give a crap what chemical base goes in to these products as it relates to our health.
I can not make my employees wear masks even though I recommend it, when I finish with them I do. But when we are running the 3CM everyone wants to wear them. I sure not everyone wears one all the time and I have never been bothered by the dust before but this is something special.
John
Jcristina wrote
I can not make my employees wear masks…
How about pants, John? Are shoes required?
Joe
Why can’t you require safety equipment like a mask. Just curious, we require ear plugs, eye protection, dust masks and gloves (when offloading material).
If you don’t wear it you don’t have a job with us.
Are material safety sheets required for solid surface? I think I would find out what is in that 3cm, if it causes health problems, something is not right?
It should be absolutely required. Period! Just wait till some guy in the shop has health problems and the Doc says it’s from breathing the dust. The guys that WON’T wear them, WILL hire an attorney.
I can hear it now: “They did not make us wear masks.”
Wait until the granite guys start getting cancer of the lungs from breathing the dust. The only granite people left will be the ones with th safety equipment.
I dont have to worry about making them wear them or not, as soon as we start sanding the stuff, the dust masks are on. it really must be bad stuff because it makes you want to wear one. I am going to send a pc out to get tested though, it is a little different than other solid surface. When we run solid surface by the big guys we get hardly any dust in the air, this stuff just floats in the air forever, and there is a lot more of it.
John
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