After buying our most recent house, I can say that this experience has thrown a handful of firsts into my path. One of them being the care and maintenance of soapstone counter tops. I remembered my dad explaining to me as a child about soapstone. He had a Kodiak bear statue made of soapstone that he got before I was born, when he was stationed in Alaska. I remembering him sitting watching tv with us, and he would hold it like a fidget toy. We are a family of fidgeters. When our brains are going we need to move even if it’s a subtle thing. Toes, hands, whatever. Drove the cat nuts. Anyway, he explained to me that he wanted to make the beautiful grains show nicely on this statue. I could see that with the ridges and valleys on this statue were getting more defined and the speckled pattern and the swirls were showing through the smoothed stone. He Explained how the stone changed when it was exposed to the oils from his hands and it brought out the beautiful colors and textures in the stone. Looking at my soapstone counters it took me a couple weeks to work out how I was going to care for them. Honestly, it took me that time to FIND my counters because moving is a lot of work. I obviously wasn’t going to rub them with my hands since I have easily 18 feet or more of black soapstone in my kitchen. Keep in mind that my counter tops are unsealed. There is no polish or sealant and my counters have that natural uneven look.
I knew I needed a food grade oil that wouldn’t go rancid. I remembered that I had bought care products for some wood cutting boards a while back and already I had food grade mineral oil in my stash.
I love it when a story comes together! My black counters were chalky in places and really looked like they needed something. So I spent an afternoon cleaning and clearing and oiling my counters and let me tell you what a difference that made!
I learned that a little oil goes a long way. I used a drop or two for about every foot of counter. Don’t set anything on the oiled counters for a day after the application. Use a cotton rag. I tried paper towel it worked ok, but I liked how the cloth seemed to last a lot longer because it could hold more and spread it better if that makes any sense. I felt like I had to wipe a lot more with the paper towel. The next day the oil was pretty much absorbed and my counters were rich and shiny and beautiful. So much so that I have decided that my cabinets need to be repainted. But that is a post for another day. Fast forward a couple weeks and my counters still look amazing, However, I am going to apply another coat of oil here soon because a lot of it is absorbed and I am starting to see spots that are a little dulled out.
My counters get used constantly. Biggest lesson after oiling countertops is make sure that nothing that can pick up oil gets set on it for a day afterwords. Rubber feet on appliances is fine but paper, cloth, or wood will take the oil off before it can absorb into the stone. Once it is absorbed Into the counter (About a day or at least overnight) it stays lookin nice even after things get set on it.
To sum up, I learned two things. Unsealed soapstone needs oil. It looks better and fluids bead so it cleans well. DO NOT set anything absorbent on it for a day afterwards! You want the oil to absorb evenly. The more even it absorbs the less often you have to apply. Making less work for ourselves is something I strive to accomplish.