Marble Stone Hardness

The granite hardness helps buyers make a balanced decision.

Marble stone hardness.

Ability to accept a polish. When it comes to classifying a natural stone granite before making a purchase stone buyers like to focus on the relative granite hardness to know how hard a stone is in comparison with other natural stone products like marble sandstone slate limestone and quartzite. In addition whether you choose a harder stone like granite or gemstone or a softer stone like limestone or soapstone you can be prepared to be as cautious as you need to around the surface. For instance if a stone has a mohs hardness of seven then that stone is solid enough to scratch another stone with a rating of six or lower.

An example of the hardness of a granite countertop can be seen in the fact that a knife blade will not scratch the surface. Marble is commonly used for sculpture and as a building material. It is also used as a low hardness abrasive for scrubbing bathroom and kitchen fixtures. After being sanded with progressively finer abrasives marble can be polished to a high luster.

Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals most commonly calcite or dolomite marble is typically not foliated although there are exceptions in geology the term marble refers to metamorphosed limestone but its use in stonemasonry more broadly encompasses unmetamorphosed limestone. Because granite is between a 6 and 7 on the mohs scale it would be able to scratch other types of stone that have lower ratings such as marble. Reviewing this guide can help you keep in mind what the mohs scale of hardness is and how it can be applied to evaluate different countertop options.