Poly Stone

[Byron Trantham]

Have any of you used or finished Poly Stone? Its a Corrianne wanna-be - I think. I cost $299 for a 30" x 12' sheet. I tried to get Corrianne but the distributor told me I had be an authorized Corrianne installer! Any input would be appreciated.

[Doug Shepard]

I haven't used Poly Stone but another "Corian" - Wilsonart - who seem to have much less problem selling to the casual user than Corian's dealers. It didn't work any differently than the small 4"x4" Corian samples I've cut. I think they're all pretty much the same material. The stuff smells pretty bad and generates a ton of fine dust but cuts easily with a fine TS blade or router bits.

[Ken Dolph]

Doug and Byron

There are 3 main formulas for Solid Surface

The oldest is Corian which is pure acrylic resin Aprox 30% and mineral filler which is now pure ATH (alumina-trihydrate) The rusulting sheets have a density of about 5 pounds per square foot in half inch material. If this smells bad when it is cut you are doing something wrong. Fine tooth tools, dull tools or too fast a cut are a few of the things that can make it smell with fine dust. There are few imitators that use this pure formula. Even the best of the others throw in some cheaper fillers which tend to smell when cut and tend to soften the product. These materials can be bent with heat.

Almost immediatly after Corian came out several companies made a knock off using poyester binder with styrene filler. The density of this material is half that of Corian. This material smells very bad and is not UV stable. The colors can be much better than in the Acrylic materials but they will fade with time. It tends to be harder but more brittle than the acrylic products. These cannot be bent with heat.

Finally there are mixtures of the two. These will have a wide range of quality mixes of the other two products.

For more information on polishing see the following thread:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=28268&highlight=corian

If you would like the package "How to Work with Corian in the Home Workshop" Just contact me - it is free. Included in the package is the booklet of the same name from duPont.


I hope this helps
Ken