House Signs made from Natural Sandstone

Engraved sandstone house signs are fairly rare. Some types of sandstone such as Cotswold or Clipsham stone are too gritty, the grain is too course for the crisp clean finish that engravers require. However, choose the right type of sandstone and you can have a superb unique and best of all natural stone house sign!

Sandstone is as the name implies a naturally occurring sedimentary rock formed from sand grains of various sizes and densities. It is the size of the grain that dictates wether a sandstone will be suitable for engraving or not. Some sandstones can be hand cut but not machine cut. Because of the way the stone is formed even the softer sandstones will resist the damaging effects of rain weather and pollution better than many other harder stones.

If you live in a stone quarrying region and have a local stone I suggest you ask at a local stone mason's about the suitability of the stone as regards engraving for house signs.

Failing that, or you simply want a different colour stone, use the internet to see what stones are being offered by house sign maker or letter carvers.

If you are lucky enough to live in Somerset and Avon there is a good chance that your home will have some features using Bathstone. If that is the case consider having your house sign made from the local stone.

Bathstone from Englands west country is a beautiful mellow sand coloured stone that is suitable for hand and machine engraving. Bathstone is one of the classic high quality british building stones, many of Englands finest ancient buildings are built from Bathstone.

The grain of this stone is fine but relatively soft. Possibly a little on the soft side to be considered as an ideal engravers stone nonetheless a Bathstone house sign will cut cleanly both by machine and hand. The stone will weather well and age beautifully.

I would not personally recommend painting the lettering of bathstone as I feel the paint does not adhere over the long term as it will on some other stones. Better I think to engrave or cut the lettering deeply and let the natural shadow do the job of making the lettering visible. This works extremely well and avoids later re-painting jobs.

This however just a personal choice, a local mason experienced in working the stone may well disagree. It's always best to seek the advice of local craftsmen.

Yorkstone quarried in Englands north east is in my view one of the best stones for engraving in the world. Some grades of Yorkstone have a very small grain size, really more like silt grain than sand and very tight and dense.

This makes for a hard even textured stone that is perfect for all types of engraving. Yorkstone like all true sandstones weathers superbly and ages with great aplomb.

Lettering and images cut in the right type of Yorkstone will be crisp sharp and deep.

Paint infill will adhere very well to Yorkstone and last many years without re-painting but I must say that to create a natural looking house sign I still prefer to leave the lettering unpainted.

Yorkstone is quarried in a varietyof colours that range from Golden yellow to blue!

However the most commonly available colours are yellows buffs and greys.

Yorkstone is widely available acoss the UK.

However the quality of the stone will depend on which quarry your supplier used to source his stock.

Check the colours available in your area before ordering, also be careful about the grain size, coarse Yorkshire gritstone is not suitable for house signs.

Derbyshire Sandstone Is very similar to Yorkstone though tends to be darker in colour. Has all the same excellent qualities as Yorkstone. Cuts and engraves and weathers beautifully.

Indian Sandstone is a relative newcomer to the world stone markets. In general Indian sandstones are excellent quality, tight grained and very hard. These types of stone engrave beautifully using sand blasting but the hardness of the material will deter many hand letter cutters. This is a pity as the wide variety of colours regularly availabel in Indian sandstone make them an attractive alternative to more traditional stones.

I particularly like the pale cream colour and used it as a substitute for limestone. Indian sandstone tends not to suffer from the fossil shell that can plague many limestones and it is much harder and more weather resistant.

I am also fond of the red or pink Indian sandstone, a good alternative to English red sandstones which are rarely available.

A search on the internet or following these links will lead you deep into the wonderful world of natural sandstone, it is a world of colour, texture and varity. Best of all, it's not man-made plastic or concrete gunge!

Where to buy a sandstone house sign.

About Indian Sandstone:

About Natural Stone House Signs:

Interesting Hub by bugsy81,about natural stone:(note: I'm not the only person that loves natural materials!)