Method of making a composite natural stone veneer product

Abstract

A veneer product of a supporting stratum and a veneer of naturally-occurring, slabable stone material is provided where the thickness of the veneer of the stone material is such that it would not otherwise be generally capable of being manoeuvred or handled without breaking. Such stone material as marble, granite, and other architecturally useful and decorative materials are particularly contemplated. The supporting stratum may be such as plywood; but is more usually a cellular honeycomb material adhesively bonded to one surface of the thin stone material slab. The composite stone veneer product is produced by first cutting slabs which are of a thickness that they may be handled and manoeuvred without breaking; adhesively bonding a layer of supporting material to each of the surfaces of the slabs; and re-slabbing the slab to form the composite stone veneer product where the newly cut veneer slab may be of a thickness that it cannot be handled without having first been adhesively secured to the supporting stratum. The stone material face of the composite stone veneer product may then be finished; and slabbing and finishing operations can be carried out manually or using standard stone working apparatus. When a plurality of slabs are re-slabbed at one time, sheets of force distributing material such as steel sheeting may be interposed between adjacent layers of supporting material which are, in turn, each adhesively bonded to one of a pair of adjacent slabs.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.