Absolute Black

Treatment, and why to ask about it

A good deal of the material sold internationally as Absolute Black has been helped along, with a resin coating, a dye or a surface sealer that deepens the colour and hides a grey cast. It photographs beautifully, it weathers unevenly outdoors, and once it is on a monument there is no undoing it.

Ask any supplier, us included, to state on the quotation whether the slabs are natural, resin-treated or coated. A straight answer costs nothing. Where a price sits well under the rest of the market for the same grade, treatment is usually the reason.

Finish, and how it behaves

Polished Absolute Black is the most unforgiving surface in the trade: every fingerprint, every water spot and every swirl left by a worn polishing head will show. That is exactly why it is the right stone for laser-etched memorials, where the contrast between etched grey and polished black is the entire point. For worktops and floors that get lived on, honed or leathered is the more honest recommendation.

What to specify when you order

• Natural, resin-treated or coated, in writing
• The grade, and how much grey cast or fine speckle is acceptable to you
• Thickness, and for monuments the finished sizes and any etching allowance
• Finish, with a note on gloss level for polished work
• Whether slabs must come from one block for a multi-panel elevation