Another product that we want to feature is our Lustro Italiano Etch Remover, as well as water mark remover. In what applications would we normally use the Lustro Etch Remover? Well, etch remover is designed specifically for calcium based materials. Marbles, travertines, limestones, onyx materials. It does not work with granite which is quartz-based, so it has to be a calcium based material which is primarily where you are getting your etches in the first place.
Well how are etches made? Well, etches are different from scratches in that etches are chemically reacting with the calcium in the marble. For example, a good old lemon is a very acidic based product that will etch marble very, very quickly. So we're using this. We're going to cut this on this piece of crema marfil marble. We're going to add just a little bit of lemon onto this. And we're going to find that in just a minute or so we will etch this marble.
So now we can see right here on this corner, how we have a really nice etch just that quickly from our lemon. Right here where that marble was etched fro that lemon. But how do we bring that polish where you looked across and you see this really nice dull, this dull spot. How do you bring it back up to where it will be able to match the rest of the surface? Well that's where the Lustro Italiano Etch Remover comes into play.
It's a powder, it's a paste form. We bring it to you, we package it, already in a paste form. However, due to time, shipping, humidity, those kinds of things, it could dry out. If that's the case, then simply just add a little bit of water and put it back into a paste consistency as you can see here. This type of consistency. Now it's not pretty, it doesn't look nice, however it really is a great product and it works very, very well.
How You Apply:
You're going to take and we are going to put this right on this material and we're going to just dab it in there. And you can apply it with a rag, you can apply it with a dish towel, I'm just going to use a simple paper towel. And what we're going to do is we're going to start this. And we're going to just cover it, and we're going to work it into a circular motion over the etch; just like that.
You can see how it clumps into the material, you can see how it kind of starts forming in this way. All we're going to do is we're just going to work this over this etch.
Generally an etch like this, which is a lemon, we're going to work this for maybe 2, 3 minutes. And you think, "well this is just rubbing it, is it doing anything?" And actually it is. It's chemically because of the acid that is actually in the etch remover is mechanically working with the calcium in this stone; in the marble. This is a crema marfil marble, and the advantage of having it can also be worked in a dry form but it becomes harder as you can see is once it starts drying out a little bit more it starts flaking out. And that's why it's good to cup it; like so.
Now if you have it and it becomes like that, no problem. Just take a little bit of water. Add just a little bit of water and now we see that. Now what's happening is your napkin or your rag is going to absorb your excess; and then we're back to rubbing it again. Not a lot of pressure. Light pressure. All we're doing is we're running over it. We're just letting the chemicals do the work.
and you can see what I have in there; see how that's rubbing against the marble.
If you leave this setting on the marble, it will etch it. It will chemically again, where we are creating a chemical reaction, mechanical reaction with the calcium and the polishing powder; and the etch remover. And if you leave it setting on this stone for 20, 30 minutes, an hour, overnight, it will actually etch it but you can work the etch back out.
It will take away very, very light scratches. If you have scratches that you can feel, it will not remove it. It's going to improve it, but it will not take them completely away. It's designed if you have a really, really heavy, strong etch it will remove that etch as well. But what we are looking for is the ability to bring the luster, the polish back to it. You may can still look across the tile or across the counter, still see a dip or a little curve; something like that, that's in the material. And that's where the acid has chemically, physically removed part of the stone.
So, it's impossible to get that back out. But what we're looking to do. What we're looking to accomplish is to be able to have a consistent gloss shiny surface so that when you glance across the countertop you're not going to automatically notice a dull spot that's on your counter.
So after you've rubbed it, after you've seen it just maybe for a couple minutes. What you can do is just kind of scrape this off to the side; like so. And we can take some water and we can a napkin, we can a cloth, we can take our Lustro Italiano cleaner and we're going to squirt that. And we're just going to clean the surface and get it streak-free. That;s where the Lustro Italiano comes in really nice because it leaves it streak-free.
And if we just look across the tile, and we can see that we have completely, in just those 2, couple minutes, we have completely removed that etch mark. And we have an absolutely perfect match tile. We had our dull spot right here. Here was our dull spot from where our lemon is. And now it's completely gone. We've completely done away with - we've completely removed that.
Now again, if it was severe; very, very, very strong, where you can actually feel where it's really rough and going down it may take 3 minutes, 10 minutes. I've worked on stains, on etches that have completely etched, eroded and it's taken me 10, 15, 20 minutes of continual working to get it out. But it will come out because again you are reacting with the mechanical elements of calcium and oxalic acid working together to be able to bring this polish back up.
Now keep in mind also that when you etch a material, the acid in the stone, the acid has removed layers of the stone away; it's taken it off. That means that any sealer that you have that was on the initial - was on the stone initially - has been completely eaten away.
So, if you have an etch, you're using etch remover - Lustro Etch Remover - to remove that etch back off, you also must reapply a sealer. The Lustro pro, professional grade sealer, the stone sealer, Lustro premium grade sealer. Apply that back over the etch and let that seal back in there because obviously we need to have sealer put back in it. Then we can maintain with our Lustro cleaner, or Lustro stone polish and by doing that hopefully it will give us initial protections against your quick spills.
Obviously if you have a lemon setting on the surface for overnight it's going to eat through practically anything because it's such a strong acid. But, if you have an etch, use Lustro Etch Remover it's going ot bring it back out. Use your elbow grease, work it back up between 3, 5, 8 minutes sometimes 10 minutes. After you clean that off, let it dry out, apply the pro seal, professional grade sealer, Lustro Italiano sealer back over top of that and maintain it with the stone polish and cleaner and then hopefully you won't be able to have etches anymore.
