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The lady I refinished the fancy little mahogany table for has a marble top that goes with it. The local pro shop said they can't polish out the top because they are afraid their machine will damage the edges. I haven't seen the top yet. The lady said it's not scratched, but it is dull in spots from years of wear. Makes sense. So it would seem like it ought to be easy to polish back to a high or at least uniform shine using typical wood working or automotive products, but I'm probably missing something so hence the reason for my post. Has anyone polished marble, have any advise, etc. before I tell the lady I can do it and then run into trouble? Thanks.
John
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I'd see it before I would say if I could do it or not.
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This guy got to an "80" finish using an orbital sander and diamond abrasive:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEoOrWaMH9MA gloss finish is 90 as indicated in the video.
No animals were injured or killed in the production of this post.
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You can do a pretty good job if you've got diamond abrasives and any tool that has a rotary motion. variable speed angle grinder, auto polisher, Rotex, etc. I'm sure it can work decently with a random orbit machine also, but no experience there.
The diamond pads are available as sets on Amazon and eBay (can probably get a decent set for about $30 including the backer pad). Most of them can be used wet or dry, but wet is way, way better. Of course, if using wet make sure you're plugged into a GFCI cord, yadda yadda.
You can do a reasonable job with woodworking/paint abrasives (festool granat + platin, abranet, etc.) progressing through the grits for tile edges, but I wouldn't expect a high-quality job for a flat/polished surface.