The industry term "fine stone" is not in reference to the stones themselves, but to a certain type of factory finish grind of marble, granite, and limestone. The "fine stone" finishes are very smooth finishes called "honed" and "polished".
- "Honed" typically looks and feels "soft" and has low reflectivity.
- "Polished" typically looks and feels "mirror like" and is highly reflective.
- To add to the inevitable confusion, there are varying degrees of finish where the more highly polished "honed" finishes approach a "polished" finish.
The other, more textured and porous finishes are "flamed", "split", "tumbled", "sawn", etc. and will be referred to as "porous" finishes. The "porous" finishes are easily sealed as described in our  section on the various pages.
The ability of a stone to take or resist a stain varies tremendously and is not always observable or predictable. Even when two pieces come from the same slab originally, one can have microscopic fissures, pores, color characteristics, etc. that is different from its adjacent piece. See the section to identify and classify your stone, then review the discussion of these issues on your stone's page.
The "fine stone" (honed, polished) finishes are typically quite dense. However, they can become stained. This creates a situation where the stones need to be sealed, but it is very difficult to accomplish without detracting from the beautiful factory finish. Until now!
"Fine Stone Sealer" is a new technology that has been proven to meet the following expectations of performance (see pictures):
- Appearance - no observable change to factory finish
- Water borne stains - repelling these is easy and accomplished by all Aldon sealers, and by most other manufacturer's.
- Oily liquid stains - despite performance claims you will see from others, the resistance to these stains is less than they imply. Tested against competing brands, "Fine Stone Sealer" exceeded the performance of all others by a considerable margin. We encourage you to test for yourself.
- Etching - If you have existing acid etch marks, or want to see options to prevent acid etching
click here. All sealers (ours and others) that stop an acidic liquid, also change the surface appearance with the coating application. As with all other sealers available, "Fine Stone Sealer" does not prevent etching. However, this sealer does slow down the etching action, thereby allowing more time to discover and remove the liquid. If etching does occur, see Aldon
Fine Stone Restoration
Not sure if an Aldon product is right for you? Good! You never know if the results will be exactly what you expect until you try it on your project. Order  and eliminate the guesswork. See label reproduction below for application instructions.
PRODUCT CHARACTERISTICS:
- Water base. No fumes, therefore, although all common sense precautions should be taken as with any chemicals in an inside environment - less concern than with solvent based products.
- Repels staining liquids by changing surface characteristics to reduce their ability to adhere to, and penetrate into, the surface.
- Formulated to be much more penetrating than typical water base products.
- Used indoors and outdoors - does not yellow
- Invisible - no change to color or gloss level, therefore, does not create an artificial appearing finish.
- No streaking or sticky film residue.
- No buffing necessary.
- Ultraviolet light can decrease effective life of this sealer to under one year. However, it is very easy to reapply and reconstitute protection level. Test periodically and if water beads become less high and rounded - reapply sealer.
- "Food safe" designations do not apply as this product would not be used on cutting boards or other food preparation surfaces. It is only used on hard stone or concrete surfaces. Cutting or chopping on a stone surface would ruin the utensils.
These pictures are:
- Two pieces of Polished Marble
- This stone finish is almost non-absorbent without sealing, but will stain
- "Fine Stone Sealer" applied only to the right half of each
The pictures show that where sealed, there is:
- No change to color
- No gloss
- No appearance difference observable from the sealer
Top picture is water drops, bottom picture is oil drops.
- Red arrows point to drops on the unsealed half.
- Yellow arrows point to drops on the sealed half
- Note high beading due to sealer repelling liquids.
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One piece of White Turkish Limestone.
- This stone is absorbent without sealing and will stain easily.
- Shows that "Fine Stone Sealer" works as well on very absorbent surfaces also.
- "Fine Stone Sealer" applied to the corner sections and not in the center.
The pictures show that where sealed, there is:
- No change to color
- No gloss
- No appearance difference observable from the sealer
Top picture is water drops, bottom picture is drops of highly penetrating oil based black colorant.
- Note high beading due to sealer repelling liquids.
- Note both liquids spreading and soaking into the unsealed center.
- Note colorant is staining unsealed center in bottom picture.
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ITEMS OF INTEREST:
- "Fine Stone Sealer" is more expensive per gallon than our other sealers, but the coverage per square foot on the finely finished stones is so high that the cost is comparable to a less expensive sealer used on a more absorbent surface. In other words, it probably costs no more, and perhaps less, than sealing flagstone or Mexican tile floors. With a flooring or cladding that costs $8.00 to $20.00+ a square foot - another 10 cents a square foot to protect it should be of little consequence.
Other, less expensive per gallon sealers cannot meet all the criteria of fine stone finishes as explained above.
- An Aldon sealer can do a lot more than just protect and look pretty. See the
 for addressing other benefits of using a sealer, such as: strengthening weak or powdery surfaces, making minor color problems disappear, stopping efflorescence, etc. These issues are covered in detail in 
- You can protect a glossy finish sealer from traffic wear patterns by using Aldon Lifeguard.
- For wall and ceiling installations - the goals are the same, but less of an issue as there are no traffic wear considerations. Apply with any method you like from brushing to spraying that will create a smooth coating. Spraying is probably the best and easiest. For small areas you might consider the small, single use, pressure cartridge type spray assemblies that sell for around $5.00 in hardware stores.
- See the product label reproduction below for all the information on surface preparation, application technique, drying time, etc. This label reproduction will always be the most current. Because we are constantly improving information and passing on tips from users, this could be more up to date than the label on the container.
TROUBLESHOOTING:
If you do not see the results you expect:
It is not a problem with the product! (They all do what we say they do!)
- Your conditions may have been misdiagnosed! (It can happen, even with all the information we provide.)
- The surface conditions (absorption rate, contaminents, temperatures, etc.) are other than thought.
- And/or - it was not applied per label instructions! (The instructions are designed to overcome items 1 and 2 above, and overcome job conditions of which you might not be aware.)
Click
 for tips on this product.
REPRODUCTION OF THE BACK LABEL:
Would you like to know how to compare this product with our competitor's products? Would you like an explanation of this label? - Click here
To translate this label to another language - click here.
You can print this page and label by holding down your control key (Ctrl) and typing the letter P.
When you read all the health and safety warnings, you will see we have done our best to make you think about working with any chemicals from any manufacturer. Even household cleaners purchased in supermarkets (many with more hazardous ingredients than we use due to cost factors) should be used with common sense and awareness. People have been injured by not knowing you can create poisonous gases by mixing chlorine bleach with some cleaning products. One of the many criteria involved in Aldon products is that all our products will be used with any other of our products and no normal combination of usage events should be hazardous. Nevertheless, use common sense and don't be in a hurry. Let each step prove itself satisfactorily before proceeding to the next. |
More questions? See and
To order this product - click  and then click your state. |
