I didn't know they were quarrying soapstone in the USA anymore. Can you tell us about it?

I have Green Mountain Original and love it. Soft to touch but not soft to scratch or ding. Holding the dark oiled look a long , long time. The main company is in Vermont. I found a local fabricator that sells it. Contact the company and they will help you find it locally.

Here is a link that might be useful: Green Mountain Original

Any other soapstones that are soft to touch but hard enough that they don't scratch or ding easily.

I have Minas and it is very hard. Sorry, don't have pics yet. I'm in So. Cal. and got it from Tom Shadley.

Alberene Soapstone is quarried in Virginia.

http://www.alberenesoapstone.com/flavors/

Hope this helps........

This link may be helpful:

Here is a link that might be useful: Soap Stone descriptions

We have Mariana from Walker-Zanger. Very hard.

The soapstone descriptions were helpful. Are there certain soapstones that come in larger slabs and don't need as many seams?

It all depends on where you get the stone. Some places have it in larger slabs. You get what is locally available at the time. We had 3 slabs of 102" x 30". In our kitchen that meant only one seam where two slabs met in a corner "L". The only slabs that were available at the time we did our kitchen were 30" wide. Hence our island is exactly 29-7/8" wide. Check what you require vs. what is available when you want it.

-Babka

Harder stuff would be P.A. (I think they call it original P.A. now)from Green Mountain Soapstone. Two varieties that come in big slabs are light Julya and Dark Julia.

Here's my take on it..
Harder soapstones-
Brazilian Black, Julia, Santa Barbara, Cobra, Python, Mumbai Grey, Belvedere, Rainforest Green, Brazilian Nights, Pietra Grigio, and I also agree with the others mentioned already above.. Keep in mind that there are "hardness" variations between all of the stones since they are a product of nature and different sections of the quarries can produce harder stone.

as far as size- The Indian soapstone (Cobra, Python and Mumbai Grey) and Santa Barbara as far as I know only comes in smaller slabs around 26x80 with a lot of varying sizes either larger or smaller by a few inches.

The other varieties I mentioned come in larger slabs maybe around 60x100 and greater depending on the stone. We have some Brazilian Black that are around 70x117 which is HUGE in soapstone. The quarries for some reason do not invest in the equipment to go "big" like the granite guys.

Our slab of Beleza was 120x60 which apparently was extremely large. Most of the slabs at Dorado Soapstone in Austin were smaller. They had one group of the larger slabs when we bought ours in May.

Alberene, Church Hill looks like this after 9 months, unoiled:

and:

Casey

This is so helpful. Thanks for the pics and informative posts. It gives me quite a few soapstones to look into.

Here something might be useful a video about soft and hard soapstone http://bit.ly/soapstonesoftvshardvideo

Soapstone Hardness Levels
The stone industry has issued a MOHS scale of harness. Here it is:
Talc (Mg3Si4O10(OH)2) 1
Gypsum (CaSO4�2H2O) 3
Calcite (CaCO3) 9
Fluorite (CaF2) 21
Apatite (Ca5(PO4)3(OH-,Cl-,F-)) 48
Orthoclase Feldspar (KAlSi3O8) 72
Quartz (SiO2) 100
Topaz (Al2SiO4(OH-,F-)2) 200
Corundum (Al2O3) 400
Diamond (C) 1600
Soapstone is between a 1-4 on the MOHS scale.
Here is the breakdown of our types of soapstone and their ranking on the hardness scale:
Minas � 2
Porto Alegre � 2
Sao Luis � 4
Brazilian Duro � 2-4 ( this is a funny stone, some of the stone is very hard and some of it is much softer. This needs to be tested container/container).
Verde Minas � 4
Minas Duro � 4
Jucca � 2
Iguazu � 4
(Note: to see these soapstones images click here >> http://bit.ly/hHuZUK (videos available too)
Granites are generally a 4-6
SileStone, HanStone, CeaserStone � 6-7
Corian � 3-4