How to Choose Diamond Polishing Pad to Polish Granite Concrete Marble Stone Countertops and Edges

How to Choose Diamond Polishing Pad to Polish Granite Concrete Marble Stone Countertops and Edges

Posted by Sumit K Suman, President Shop N Save Mart on 11th Feb 2015

The beauty and stunning look of Granite Marble Stone Or Concrete countertop lies in its flawless shine, perfectly cut and polished edges and invisible joints. An installation or fabrication of countertop mandates shaping polishing honing to make your countertop appear absolutely stunning and beautiful. Choosing the right ideal diamond polishing pads is one of the most important part that will give you the ultimate finish for your granite marble or concrete counter tops and the perfect value for money too.

There are multiple factors to consider to choose the right polishing pads:

  • Stone Or Concrete
  • Polishing Needed on Edges Or Flat Surface
  • Square footage to polish
  • Need For Stock Removal
  • Onsite or Offsite Polishing

The above determines whether you need a wet polishing pads or dry polishing pads, and if you go with 3 inch, 4 inch, 5 inch or even bigger size pads. A thicker or thinner, rigid or flexible pads meet your need best or cheaper or costlier pads is best for your use case.

Wet Or Dry Polishing Pad?

Wet polishing is preferred over dry polishing technique for its better finish and lower cost of finish. Many project may not be suitable for wet polishing for the fact, it creates water based slurry which can squirt during polishing. A polishing in a open hotel lobby may need usage of dry polishing instead. Analyze you work area if wet diamond polishing pads is suitable, and accordingly determine the right polishing technique for your specific project.

3 Inch, 4 Inch, 5 Inch, 6 Inch or 7 Inch Pads

To choose the correct diamond polishing pad, you need to give due importance to the size. A smaller size polishing pads are easy to work with and can access intricate places and lighter to perform fine finishing. However a smaller size polisher less area per rotation. For example, a typical 3 inch pad area coverage per rotation is 7 square inch approximately 1/4 of a 6 inch pads. That means a  6 inch diamond polishing pads polisher approximately four times faster at same RPM. So, you have a bigger area that is open, you must choose a bigger size pads. A 4 inch or 5 inch diamond polishing pad could be very good choice for most of the projects. A larger sized diamond polishing pad is considered to be more stable on flat areas. However when you are considering small and narrow spaces, you should ideally go in for a small polishing pad.

Flexible or Rigid Pads

Most of the countertop needed edges, to polish edges round shapes (Sink roundabouts), a flexible polishing pads is preferred over rigid, where as a rigid one works equally good on flat surfaces as a flexible ones. If you need to polish both, a flexible pad is always preferred. Where as either of them is perfect for polishing only flat surfaces. Flexible polishing pads are available in thinner as well as thicker polishing pads, a pad thickness typically varies from 1.2 mm to 5 MM. While thick pads are considered to be long lasting, they can become stiff at times. 

Polishing Concrete Or Granite Or Marble 

Concrete Polishing Pads Kit4 Inch Diamond Polishing Pads Dry4 Inch Wet Diamond Polishing Pads Set

There are multiple polishing pads available which works on all types of stones as well equally good on concrete. However there are specific polishing pads those are designed for polishing specific types. Based on whether you polish all kinds of stone or you project is specific to only one type of stone, you can choose a  concrete polishing pads or granite polishing pads or marble polishing pads. Most of the specific stone pads works equally well on softer stones.

Diamond Quantity

Typically a polishing pads with higher diamond concentration and better quality diamond is costlier and could be better investment over polishing pads with fewer and low quality diamonds. You can read online reviews for polishing pads before determining the right polishing pads in your budget.

Patterns Needed

You will find that some patterns are suited for cutting while others are suited for polishing the surfaces. If you find patterns with coarse gullies on the surfaces, you will know that it is used to remove the deep layers. They are pretty aggressive in nature. On the other hand, if there is a pattern that has narrow channels on it, you should consider it for polishing. Generally granite polishing kit comes with a pad that has narrow channels on it.

Summary

It is important to choose right polishing pads for your countertop, so do your home work on your use case, stone to polish, area of polish is open and wide or hard to reach by tools, whether you are polishing edges or flat surface and use information above wisely to choose the best one for your use case.