DIY Granite countertop?

[Citydude]

No way my wife would let that jagged edge in our mountain home.....I guess everyone has their preferences!

It looks good in a timber frame home. Not so good in a French provincial...

 

[Citydude]

No way my wife would let that jagged edge in our mountain home.....I guess everyone has their preferences!

My wife is the opposite. She loves timber frame, natural stone and hand hewn log accents. I happen to hew logs. .

 

[3Ts]

When we had our house built less than 1 yr ago, the granite counters were cut to approximate size with no cutouts. Then brought to the house and setup on saw horses in the back and they used angle grinders to finish up the cuts and make the sink cutouts. No wet saw!:shocked: We watched clouds of dust rise up over the house and drift on the breeze. The island has an 8' long straight edge, except it really isn't all that straight. Once they finished up, I took a cutoff and decided to see what I could do with it. I used an angle grinder with a 36 grit masonry wheel. It worked quite well and much better and easier than I expected. I did learn that I'd have to get much finer grits to get the proper polish. But the initial shaping was actually easy.

There are what are essentially router bits for granite that fit the angle grinders so you can have whatever edge profile you want. They're not cheap and take some skill to use, but . . .

 

[dougtrr2]

I was working a Lowe's when a customer came in wanting to grind a little bit off a granite vanity top. We looked at a couple options, none of which were very good or sure to work. As we were talking I finally asked him why he needed to trim the top. He told me there was a drywall seam that was in the way. I suggested he slide the vanity in place, scribe a line in the drywall even with the top and then sand away the drywall. He looked at me with that "slap your forehead" look and we both laughed about it.

Doug in SW IA

 

[Steppenwolfe]

No but honestly, I'd rather do it myself if it's possible. Not only do I save some money, especially when we get to the kitchen, it'll also be pretty satisfying to have done it ourselves. The only things we've hired out so far have been the HVAC and part of the drywall float/tape/texture. The drywall that we've done looks a lot better than what we paid the "pros" for...

Then use soapstone, a lot easier to work with.

 

[fruitcakesa]

Then use soapstone, a lot easier to work with.

We were lucky enough to to find a large piece of granite for our kitchen island that was mis-ordered by the stone shop and was selling for $150.
As it was longer than we needed, the stone supplier made a cut and polished the end for...$150.
Still a deal for an 8 foot by 30 inch counter top finished to a high polish.
When we renovated our kitchen sink area we bought large pieces of soapstone from a local quarry and I cut, fitted and cemented the pieces together and finished them with hand tools and a good dust mask.
Total cost for the entire sink/counter surround was <$400 including some specialty saw blades, bits and adhesive.
And it is a really great surface.

 

[STx]

Then use soapstone, a lot easier to work with.

I've already got the granite though, and it's the color she likes. We'd have to go buy soapstone...

 

[Deere Dude]

The live edge seems like a cleaning nightmare and even worse for sanitation.

Looks nice but even with a polished edge in our kitchen we had to cover a 2 foot section with clear packaging tape. My wife wore out a bunch of t shirts by leaning into the counter top doing dishes. Need it smooth.

 

[STx]

I'm going with it's possible to DIY this. Better tools would make the job easier and I would suggest learning with a round over or bullnose instead of an ogee but, there nothing overly complicated here. I still have some polishing to do but, if you can finish auto paint or furniture, it's essentially the same process.

Pictures:

1 - The scrap granite
2 - Oh, the smell of Mainland China!
3 - Wet/dry diamond wheel, I trickled water on from the hose, couldn't feed through the arbor as pictured. Don't plunge all the way through with your cut on the first pass, score it about 1/8" and go another 1/8" on each successive pass until you're all the way through, you have more control that way.
4 - Start of the ogee
5 - After a couple of hours. I've started with the 200 grit wheel, still have a little shaping left to finish out and polish. My cut wasn't as smooth as it could've been so I've got to clean up the edge some as I polish it.

 

[EddieWalker]

That's coming along really nice. What tool did you use to create the ogee?

 

[STx]

The wet grinder/polisher I got off eBay came with a 3/4" ogee grinder. It took me about an hour to grind it. I think I could do it in about 1/2 that time now that I know how it works.

You're right about the mess, I put on my rain gear and still had wet feet.

 

[EddieWalker]

I didn't know that you could get bits to shape granite on a grinder. I know that's how they cut the holes for the faucets. They use a hole saw bit in their grinder and do it dry with a guy holding the vacuum, but I've never seen them do an edge like yours before in a clients house.

 

[STx]

Not where I got mine from and I don't know if there quality justifies the prices but, they've got a big selection of the edge profile grinders here - Diamond Hand Profiler Router Bit for Angle Grinders – EDiamondTools

 

[EddieWalker]

Thanks for the link. When considering what good quality wood router bits cost, they are not that much more money. I'm not planning on doing this, but it's nice to know that there are some good options out there!!!!!

 

[ddbackhoe]

I'm going with it's possible to DIY this. Better tools would make the job easier and I would suggest learning with a round over or bullnose instead of an ogee but, there nothing overly complicated here. I still have some polishing to do but, if you can finish auto paint or furniture, it's essentially the same process.

Pictures:

1 - The scrap granite
2 - Oh, the smell of Mainland China!
3 - Wet/dry diamond wheel, I trickled water on from the hose, couldn't feed through the arbor as pictured. Don't plunge all the way through with your cut on the first pass, score it about 1/8" and go another 1/8" on each successive pass until you're all the way through, you have more control that way.
4 - Start of the ogee
5 - After a couple of hours. I've started with the 200 grit wheel, still have a little shaping left to finish out and polish. My cut wasn't as smooth as it could've been so I've got to clean up the edge some as I polish it.View attachment 586233View attachment 586234View attachment 586235View attachment 586236View attachment 586237

Looks great. Did you fasten a straight edge to the slab or just freehand it? Ive been told that the router bits are only good for a one or two uses, what do you think about the wear?

 

[STx]

I marked the line with a straight edge and then cut it free hand. Since I used a grinder to cut it, I'm not sure how I'd use a guide.

I don't see any appreciable wear on the edge bit but, this is only a 32" piece of granite. Without having a lot of experience, all I can say right now is that I kept plenty of water flowing. With metal or tile cutting, heat kills the tools faster than anything else so I'm assuming the same holds true with stone.

 

[ddbackhoe]

I marked the line with a straight edge and then cut it free hand. Since I used a grinder to cut it, I'm not sure how I'd use a guide.

I don't see any appreciable wear on the edge bit but, this is only a 32" piece of granite. Without having a lot of experience, all I can say right now is that I kept plenty of water flowing. With metal or tile cutting, heat kills the tools faster than anything else so I'm assuming the same holds true with stone.

Ok, thanks. That is my assumption too, but the fabricator we use always brings it up when haggling price. He has shown me invoices for new cutters but the old ones always are always in the trash before I get there I consider that to be part of the game, no harm no foul.

 

[AmarePratt]

If you're planning on doing the work yourself, I would recommend reaching out to a professional countertop installer or fabricator to get some advice on the best way to go about it.