Countertop Production: Edge Detail

   We execute many different edges in our shop. Some of them make us considerable money; others make us look like fabrication gurus. Some tend to put us in the poor house, but others make us a ton of coin.
   I don’t want to get into specifics; pricing policies vary by region and become just plain confusing. Instead, let’s take a look at some edges, from simple to complex and non-laminated to laminated.
   But, let’s really muck things up a bit: What are the actual names of the edges? Trust me, there are no correct answers; I’ve seen an array of names for any given finish. I’ll attempt to use all of the known names that I know.
   And, please, don’t start firing me that “correct” list of edge names. I have four or five charts here in my shop that all conflict with each other. What you need to worry about is whether your client knows the edge you are going to place on the product
   So, let’s take a look at an edge primer.
   2cm flat polish. (Or, 2cm eased, the budget gourmet edge or the,“I should consider Formica®” edge) This is, by far, the most-basic and quickest edge with 2cm material that can be executed by a stone shop. A skilled fabricator with an angle grinder and a polisher could crank out a kitchen with less than $500 in tools with this edge, and it likely would be near perfect and profitable.
   When clients roll into our shop and tell us they are on a Budget from Hell, we show them the Budget Gourmet Kitchen: flat polish, surface-mount sink, no splash. I’ve fabricated simple two- slab kitchens in a few hours. With one job, we templated in the morning and installed it that afternoon.
   Those jobs can be pure profit – if you schedule them in your workflow, and don’t wind up losing really high-dollar jobs cranking out product for the masses.
   2cm bevel. This is a major step up from the flat polish; you need to cut a bevel into the top of the profile. This is a serious step up in job quality and required skill. Be sure to charge extra; you’ll want to be compensated for the extra time (maybe even five minutes) it takes to finish the entire kitchen.
   The nice thing about the flat and the bevel edges is that they can be executed by hand very rapidly and require no machine work. We’ve used handheld routers to rough a big bevel, but most of my guys can do it by hand.
   We have found that doing other edge details in the 2cm format is a waste of time. There is no significant time savings in processing a 2cm ogee over a 3 cm ogee, and the amount of dough you can charge for the 3cm is much higher than 2cm. There are some exceptions, but in general we only offer flat and bevel edges in 2cm.
   Then there’s 3cm; in my opinion, this is the edge format of choice. With 3cm, our shop offers three standard edges: flat, demi and bevel. We charge the same for all three.
   3cm flat polish. Interestingly enough, we’ve found that this edge is not really much faster than the other two standard edges when it comes to fabrication. The major advantage is that it can be processed right off the saw by a low-skilled fabricator with no machined edge work. The drawback is simply that the edge doesn’t look very nice, and doesn’t generate many referrals, either. (We have a CNC machine, and we don’t bother to run this edge on it.)
   3cm bevel. This edge can look really trick in certain applications. Even though we have a CNC, we use a hand router to rough the bevel and process by hand. This edge is probably the most-difficult and -unforgiving of the three standard edges; if you make a small mistake in the bevel, it will be very easy to see and very hard to fix. In the right application, though, this can be a fast and profitable edge.
   3cm demi bullnose. (Or the eased, half bullnose or A-30) We can argue over the correct name, although I have one that fits it perfectly for me: the money edge. It looks good, is fast to process, and makes clients happy. I would estimate that 65 percent of the edge work that our shop executes in a given month is this one.
   All of the standard edges can be executed by hand with minimal tools. Many fabricators I know can knock these out with just a grinder, cup wheel and polisher.
   Notice that I didn’t include the 3cm full bullnose in the standard profile set? We don’t recommend this edge to our customers, because it makes the stone look thin. It’s strange to have this thin edge on the counter, and a thick-looking one at the undermount. If someone really wants it, we’ll certainly do it; we just charge a little extra. (I’ve done maybe four or five 3cm full bullnoses in the past three years).
   Then there are the 3cm exotic profiles:
   3cm chiseled edge. (AKA the rock pitch, broken, rustic, natural and other variations.)
   This is, by far, the most-profitable edge we do, and we use a rock-pitch machine for this. The shop favorite here is the pneumatic Beaver Chisel from Stone Pro Equipment Co.; this machine does an outstanding job of producing a perfect rock pitch edge quickly and safely.
   We also use a vacuum straight edge from Monument Tools Co. This amazingly simple device hooks up to a standard airline and uses a venturi effect to create suction. The straight edge makes the fabrication process go much quicker.
   After chiseling the edge, we polish it with standard pads – worn ones. This knocks down the high spots and produces a very nice edge. We then use AquaMix’s Enrich ’N’ Seal™ to enhance the profile.
   3cm ogee. This may be the all-time-classic exotic edge. In the exotic category, we process more of this profile than any other.
   This profile requires a router. I’ve seen this profile done by hand, and experimented in doing it by hand myself. It wasn’t a fun experience, nor did it produce an outstanding result.
   It can also be very tricky, with the ogee, to produce a ripple-free polish. Making this edge look really nice requires sophisticated machinery, or a simple router and some serious hand skills. When running this profile, I would recommend pre-braking the edge with a breaker bit or a cup wheel. If you do not pre-break, the router bit will rapidly lose its shape.
   3cm cove (AKA Scotia or Normandy Bead.) This is elegant and simple; it’s just a small cove cut into the stone and polished.
   On these standard profiles we use the first four metal positions on the CNC, and polish the parts by hand. This produces a superior result.
   After these staples of the shop, there are several 3cm exotic problem edges that are difficult to polish by hand.
   We love the triple pencil, but this profile is almost impossible to polish by hand. If you run a hyper-custom operation and are a perfectionist, you may go crazy when you notice the slightly less-polished parts on the inside concaves. On really dark stones it can be maddening.
   With the dupont, Q-profile and many others, the shapes that are absurd to polish by hand require outstanding equipment and polishing wheels set up properly and run well. For these simple reasons, these profiles have the highest price tag, as many shops will not be able to execute them.
   From there, it’s a step up in thickness to 4cm laminated profiles. For a long time, laminated 2cm material was the industry standard for building kitchens, and there are still a few areas in the USA where this is the case, but there’s also a move to 4cm.
   Although most shop operators will tell you that nothing looks better then a properly laminated edge, those who want to make serious money avoid this style of edgework like the plague. We switched to 3cm some two years ago and now simply hate laminating.
   If you’re going to laminate, go for the big bucks in doing it. I prefer to laminate 3cm material; it does not take much longer then 2cm and allows the opportunity to do some crazy custom stuff.
   We just ordered some 6cm ogee bullnose bits for our CNC machine; we’ve been laminating 3cm and using the demi bullnose profile and the bevel. Once we receive our Northwood Stoneworks SawJet™ this summer, laminating 3cm should be a snap and allow us to niche up and charge a bit more.
   Stacked profiles. By far, this is the most-annoying and technically challenging way to build edges. You process a profile, cut it into strips, and glue it to a part that’s already been profiled. In other words, you process all the edge work twice and then glue it up.
   Our shop has done this a few times, but I found it to be so annoying that we simply won’t execute that edge unless someone waves stacks of money under our noses.
   I am certain that many shop operators have differing opinions on these topics. If you’d like to discuss profiles – or anything else with stone – take a look at www.stoneadvice.com, a forum for slab fabricators where all are welcome
   ’Til next time – Mark Lauzon, stonecutter.
   Mark Lauzon is a fabricator in Oregon and the administrator of www.stoneadvice.com, a Website dedicated to slab fabrication.

This article first appeared in the May 2006 print edition of Stone Business. ©2006 Western Business Media Inc.