FAQ - CNBM Natural Stone

Below are some of the FAQs & Stone Processing Terminology. If you have any questions not listed here, please contact us.

General FAQ

Why was your web site domain volonghill.com.cn?

Volong is Chinese pronunciation for a hill name located in Mentougou District west of Beijing. There were coal mines in the history supplying coal minerals to the city. Slate stone had been quarried since 1995. The nice quality slate were mainly of green and mottle gray color, especially good materials for making roofing tiles.

The stone quarries at Volong Hill were closed around 2008. The region was rebuilt to have become a National Forest Park - a leisure place for local citizens.

We bought the new domain name volonghill.com.cn on 26 April, 2000. and had been using it until 2018 when we decided to make a change. The new domain name we registered is cnbmstone.com.cn. Our website has been completely moved to this new domain since the September of 2018.

Are the stone images of accurate colors?

Yes, we constantly try to shoot every stone picture with the color ("colour" in British English) management, hoping that the image is as much close as the real stone. However, all natural stones vary in color, intensity and veinings from one piece to another or even within an individual piece. Therefore the images are provided as an indication only. Real samples are available upon your request.

How about stone color variations?

One beautiful characteristic of natural stone is that there are no two pieces of natural stone alike. Some stones may have extreme variation in color and veinings from tile to tile or slab to slab. This characteristic is common in most types of stone, and is part of the inherent beauty of using a natural product in your project.

Do you accept retail orders? What is the minimum quantity required?

Basically we sell our products on B2B (business to business) base. But if you have special interest in our products for your own project, you can contact us as well, we will evaluate the cost to ship the materials directly to you.

Approximately 80% of our exports are shipped by FCL (Full Container Load), though 20% are done via LCL (Less Than Container Load) group-age shipments.

Can I get stone samples from you?

Yes, we can send you free samples upon your request if you are happy to pay for the courier charge from here to your place. The stocked samples are normally in the size of 100x100mm or 150x150mm.

A longtime partner is entitled to ask for samples with free delivery.

Do you have a price list?

NO, we have found it is not practical to publish a price list as there are so many variables with our natural stone products. However we are happy to provide you a quote by email as long as we know your demand, specification and quantity. Please contact us for a competitive quote.

What is your shipment port (port of loading)? How do you ship the stones to seaport

The stones presented here are quarried from different provinces all over China. So they are shipped from different sea ports as the listed below:

• Tianjin, China
• Qingdao, China
• Shanghai, China
• Chongqing, China
• Jiujiang, China
• Xiamen, China
• Haikou, China

What packaging do you normally use?

We use carton boxes (for tiles especially) and sturdy, seaworthy wooden crate packages. The wood packaging materials (WPM) we use are all well treated (fumigated with methyl bromide at loading port for 48 hours) by the Professional fumigation team. The packages are all marked with IPPC logo and two-letter ISO code in compliance with ISPM (International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures) No. 15.

How do you assure the quality of your products?

When we finalize the order placed by our customers, a term on the quality is specified with it. We have technical personnel to supervise the production and to do strict quality control inspection to ensure the quality. We guarantee to send a replacement in any case if our products fail to meet the agreed quality standard, though this is very scares to happen.

What is your payment term policy?

We accept both T/T payment(Telegraphic bank transfer) or L/C (Letter of Credit). However T/T is a easier and better choice for both seller and buyers. Very little chance is L/C used nowadays.

Most of new buyers is happy to bank transfer us 30% of total amount as the deposit, and wire us the balance only after shipping. We will send all related production, inspection photos and copies of shipping documents to customer for customer's satisfaction.

Overseas draft is often very slow to get paid in China, so we don't accept it.

How to deal with blemishes on polished granite?

If it is a natural "defect" in the stone like a mineral deposit of quartz or something, there is not much you can do. Most slabs these days are imported resin coated to protect the stone. Most of the time, fabricators have managed to scratch the resin coat - not the stone, and this is almost impossible to repair. You cannot polish a spot in granite, each mineral in the stone that makes up the whole polishes at a different pressure and heat rate. It takes a big machine that works the entire surface at the same time. If you attempt you will probably compound the problem. That blemish or flaw is just part of the beauty of the real thing. What I would suggest is to either leave it alone and live with it.

Stone Processing Terminology

Dimension stone is natural stone or rock that has been selected and finished (i.e., trimmed, cut, drilled, ground, or other) to specific sizes or shapes. Delicate techniques, such as diamond wire saws, diamond belt saws, or light and selective blasting with prima cord, a weak explosive are used in the production of dimension stone.

Stone and rock types: A variety of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks are used as structural and decorative dimension stone. These rock types are more commonly known as granite, limestone, marble, travertine, quartz-based stone (sandstone, quartzite) and slate.

Surface and Edge Finishes

A variety of finishes can be applied to dimension stone to achieve diverse architectural and aesthetic effects. These finishes include, but are not limited to, the following.

Non-textured Finishes

• Polished: Polishing is the process of creating a smooth and shiny surface by rubbing it or using fine abrasives. A polished finish gives the surface a high luster and strong reflection of incident light, almost mirror-like.
• Honed: A honing/matt process is similar to polishing, it provides a smooth, satin-like nonreflective surface.
• Brushed: To create a brushed finish (sometimes is referred to as a leathered finish), manufacturers gently brush the stone surface until it becomes textured and appears worn-in. The brushing process closes the stone pores which helps it to become more stain resistant. A brushed finish also hides fingerprints and water spots better than a polished surface. Like a honed finish, a brushed finish dilutes the color of the stone itself.

Textured Finishes

• Thermal: A thermal (or flameing) process to the stone produces a textured, nonreflective surface with only a few reflections from cleavage faces, by applying a high-temperature flame. This finish may change the natural color of the stone depending on its mineralogical composition, particularly with stones containing higher levels of iron.
• Sandblasted: A sandblasted / shot-blasted surface provides an irregular pitted surface by impacting sand or metal particles at high velocity against a stone surface.
• Bush Hammered: A bush hammer is a masonry tool used to texturize the stone. It exists in many forms from simple hand-held hammers to large electric machines. A bush-hammered finish, similar to a hounds tooth pattern, creates a rough, but uniformly patterned surface with impact tools varying in coarseness.
• Riven / Split (usually for slate): Natural riven stone tiles are manually 'split by hand' which produces an ideal cleft textured surface.

Some other finishes we have been doing

• sawn
• water-jet
• pineapple
• chiseled
• grooved
• plow
• 2-point stalk
• rock face
• …

If your design needs a particular textural finish other then above, email to us, and we will try to get it done right.

Some edge finishes

• straight saw cut:
• beveled: A beveled / chamfered edge is typically used to soften the edge of a stone piece for the sake of safety, wear resistance, or aesthetics; or to facilitate mating with another piece.
• tumbled: The most common method of 'tumbling process' is to cut the stone to the same size and place them into a rubber drum / barrel along with abrasive grit (rocks, sand etc.) and water. The tiles are literally tumbled over and over while the sand, rocks and water wear down their edges and soften their finish. Tumbled tiles not only have slightly rounded edges and corners but also a smooth and worn look.
• chiseled: Chiseled edge stone has a rough irregular edge instead of the straight or beveled edge that most other cuts of stone would have. The chiseled edge is intended to give the stone an aged or weathered appearance. Chiseling can be done by hand or with a machine.