Dimension stone machines that put on flat or rounded edges, and interconnecting conveyors to move the stone from the slab input to the final tile product. The stone for tiles is most commonly marble, but often is granite, and sometimes limestone, slate, or quartz-based stone. Common colors are white and light earth colors. Much of the stone for this application is produced in Italy and China. Stone monuments include tombstones, grave markers or as mausoleums. After being gangsawed into big deep (up to wide and over 6 inches deep) slabs, smaller saws or guillotines (they break the granite and make the rough
Lutetian Limestone thinner layers of harder limestone closer to the surface north of Paris. A now fashionable variety of Lutetian limestone from about 25 miles north of Paris is known as “Oise stone” or "Saint-Maximin limestone" and has become popular internationally for upscale building projects. In 2007, the quarries in southern Oise, around Saint-Maximin and Chantilly, applied to the French government to become the first to be granted a building stone Appellation Contrôlée – the badge of official French regional excellence – as if it were a wine or a cheese. According to a 2007 article in the UK’s "The Independent": “The