Stone Industry Terminology: Say Goodbye to Novice and Become a Stone Industry Expert

Newcomers in the stone industry often encounter communication barriers and misunderstandings during business negotiations due to unfamiliarity with professional terminology. This can lead to difficulties in understanding each other and affect the smooth progress of business. Remembering the following professional terms in the stone industry will help you better integrate into the industry.

Let's start by looking at the upstream part of the stone industry chain. The raw materials for stone mainly come from quarries, where the stone is called "rough stone" or "quarry block." The extraction method for granite quarry blocks involves laying tracks on the rock in the quarry and using movable tracks and quarry circular saws for cutting. Since the process involves breaking and cutting through mountains, it is referred to as "mountain cutting" within the industry.

Granite is extremely hard, comparable to steel, so cutting requires the use of even harder abrasives like diamond sand. The cutting equipment typically used is a circular saw. Marble, on the other hand, is often extracted using open-pit mining methods, with chain saws and wire saws as the cutting equipment. First, hundreds of tons of large rock blocks are cut, a process known as "wall falling."

In the transaction process of stone, the services of quarry intermediaries are usually required to complete the deal. Granite is typically cut into slabs using circular saws, and these unprocessed slabs are called "rough slabs." The surface after cutting is known as the "machine-cut surface," which can be further processed into various finished surfaces such as polished, honed, flamed, bush-hammered, water-jet, antique brushed, and other finishes. Marble is usually cut into large slabs and then processed into finished surfaces like polished, honed, acid-washed, sandblasted, brushed, and bush-hammered.

Stone procurement across the country is based on the variety design, material, texture, and size of the project to select the stone. This transaction process carries certain risks, so it is essential to be particularly careful during transactions, ensuring that payment and delivery are done simultaneously, inspecting the goods carefully, and counting the cash on the spot to avoid any disputes.

In the stone industry, there are instances where one might suffer losses due to purchasing poor-quality slabs, while others might profit from buying similar substitutes. The stone industry is full of risks and opportunities, making it crucial for practitioners to understand industry terminology and professional knowledge.