Protection, shine, colour intensifier: surface treatment of stone

The stone has been cut, shaped and finely polished, it shows itself in all its specialness. Now you want to make your sculpture water and dirt repellent, deepen the natural colour or give the stone a silky sheen? Here we show you a few ways in which you can still change the surface quality of your stone in a final work step.

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Depending on whether you choose wax, oil, impregnation oil or colour intensifier, you will get different effects. Depending on the type of stone, a different surface treatment is required.

Oil & Wax

Not all stones can be polished to a high gloss like marble . This applies, for example, soapstone , serpentine , alabaster and some limestones – they have an open structure and a lower hardness. If you treat these stones with wax or oil after grinding (sometimes both can be combined), they will develop their colour and shine.

For shine and colour, use e.g. impregnation oil with natural ingredients based on balsamic turpentine oil, stone wax, a pure natural product, or wax polish such as antique wax based on turpentine and beeswax. For the surface treatment of alabaster and serpentine, the wax polish can be warmed slightly with a hair dryer so that it can penetrate the stone better. It is then polished.

Colour intensifier & impregnation

Colour intensifier , e.g. from AKEMI, not only enhances the natural colour of the stone, but also makes it water- and dirt-repellent. Especially stones that are placed outdoors can be treated, for example, with AKEMI stone impregnation based on silicone or AKEMI Anti-Fleck Super (anti-stain). A colour intensifier is not intended here, but may occur with some stones.

What do I use for which stone and what effect do I achieve?

Here we have compiled an overview for you of which surface treatments you can use to achieve which effect on which stone in terms of colour, gloss and transparency:

Type of stoneSurface qualityTreatment
Soapstone & Serpentineno gloss, intense colourImpregnation oil or AKEMI colour intensifier
Gloss & ColourWax polish (heat with hairdryer if necessary) or AKEMI Hard Wax
Silk gloss & intense colourImpregnation oil, then stone wax
Alabasterneither lustre nor transparencySand to 240 grit, then a layer of stone wax
Silk sheen & light transparencyStone wax
Little gloss, high transparencyAKEMI cardboard veneer, alternatively for dark stones impregnation oil (Attention: white stones may discolour!)
Shine & TransparencyLithofin Polish Cream
Harder limestones & marbleGloss & colourfor all stones: Antique wax or Lithofin polishing cream or AKEMI hard wax
Colour intensifierfor limestone (not for marble!): AKEMI colour intensifier or impregnation oil
For anthracite-coloured or black stones: AKEMI colour intensifier super

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