For those of you interested in this concept, yes, I found some sweet slabs of pool table slate and thought they would be cool as a countertop (alternative to soapstone and waaaay cheaper!)

I brought one of the slabs home and put it on top of my current soapstone counter (protected by a soft towel) and gave it a light hand sanding and some mineral oil.

My Gosh it is beautiful! it does scratch easily, but the scratches sand out easily and the mineral oil makes it look gorgeous again. the downside? it etches like crazy from acids ... Especially a lemon. I was able to almost remove the spot by letting a poultice of baking soda and water sink in for a while and oiling it up again. it really does look pretty good -- but the other problem is that because it is soooo very matte and soooo very smooth, every itty bitty speck of anything shows up.

It's lovely, but I won't use it as a countertop ... I am going to stick with soapstone but I may use it as my fireplace surround!

If any of you are not discouraged by the etching and crumbs, I think pool table slate can make a beautiful counter ... And very cost effective if you come across a discarded pool table.

Shadey