The stone bush hammered finish is a marble finish that aims at giving a rustic appearance to the surface as well as durability and resistance to trampling and atmospheric agents. Bush hammered stone finish can be performed on marble or stone that can withstand the impact created by this process: in general, this stone finish is applied on slabs starting from 3 centimeters thick. Nowadays, bush hammered marble is in fact often used in flooring and cladding installed outdoors due to the anti-slip properties that the stone acquires and due to the fact that, thanks to this particular marble finish, any detachment or flaking due to wear is hardly visible.
The bush hammered marble is slightly corrugated, with a surface very close to that of the natural material. The aesthetic qualities of stone bush hammered finish have always been highly esteemed (especially the chiaroscuro effect that is created and the rough appearance) and blend perfectly with rustic-style rooms and spaces.
In the Middle Ages (although it seems that this technique was used much earlier) the stone bush hammered finish was obtained by means of a particular hammer called “bocciarda”, from the French “boucharde”. This metal hammer had small pyramidal points on its surface and was used to repeatedly hit the stone to be worked. Since this marble finish was carried out entirely by hand, the times to complete it were generally long and its cost was therefore quite high.
In the modern era, however, the bush hammer has been supplanted by a machine with pneumatic hammers with pyramidal points that tap the surface, simulating in a certain sense the activity of the stonemason. In the 90s, however, the first rotary bush hammers were born: machines which, instead of tapping the surface of the stone, hit it by means of a roller with spikes. By rolling on the surface, the roller allows to obtain a bush hammered marble even on thinner slabs and faster, thus reducing processing costs.
As explained in the previous paragraphs, the surface of the bush hammered marble or stone is, in addition to aged, rough and slightly in relief. These technical characteristics give the surface a non-slip quality that makes it perfect for outdoor applications. A typical application of bush hammered marble is for example the construction of walkways and sidewalks. It is also widely used on constantly wet surfaces such as poolside or shower trays. For the stairs, the stone bush hammered finish is carried out on a portion of each step with an anti-slip function. Finally, this stone finish is also appreciated on artifacts or furnishing details with the intention of increasing their value: some examples in this sense can be a bush hammered marble window sill, a bush hammered marble fireplace or, why not, an intercom in bush hammered marble.
Luxurious furniture in lightweight marble
Dedalo is a company from Carrara that designs and produce monolithic luxurious furnishings in lightened marble, with a contemporary design. Our goal is to reaffirm the use of marble in everyday life without renouncing, for reasons of weight, to its three-dimensional vocation, proposing sculptural and extremely engaging shapes.
