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Flexible Stone Series · MBFZS
Axed Stone Panel
Stone finished with an axe, which is to say finished badly on purpose. Flat facets at slightly different angles, each one a single blow, none of them quite meeting the next.
Technical data sheet, MBFZS (PDF, 0.9 MB)·Colour card, 106 surfaces in four series (PDF, 10.4 MB)
An axed finish is what a mason does when the stone is too soft to split and too hard to carve: he takes the face down with a mason’s axe in overlapping blows. The result is a surface of shallow facets, each about 30 to 60 mm across, tilted a degree or two from its neighbour.
Five millimetres and 6.5 kg. The relief is only about 3 mm, so this is a wall that reads as texture rather than as pattern: from four metres it is a warm cream wall with a bit of life in it, and from one metre it is a set of tool marks. That is the opposite of the culture stone, and often what a restaurant wants. Ordered as split face stone for fireplaces, wine walls and reception faces, where the chisel direction matters to the drawing.
One blow, one facet
The tell is the edge of each facet: it is a straight line, because an axe leaves a straight edge, and the corners are all different angles. Cast it from a drawn pattern and every facet gets a similar shape; cast it from a real axed sample, as here, and no two are alike.
Good for
- Restaurants and bars with a rustic brief
- Fireplace surrounds
- Exterior walls, on a drained frame
- Walls that will be touched, because the facets do not show marks
Not for
- Polished modern interiors; the tool marks are the point and they will fight it
- Anywhere a flat, honed stone is wanted
- Bathrooms with a lot of steam
Cream, sand, grey
Three. The cream in the shot is the stock and the one that suits a warm interior; the sand is half a tone darker and reads better in a room with a lot of timber; the grey is for exteriors.
Specification
Everything below applies to the Axed Stone as supplied. The PDF above is the same sheet we send out with a quote; ask for a printed copy and it travels with the sample.
| Sheet size | 1200 × 3000 mm |
|---|---|
| Thickness | 5 mm ± 0.5 mm |
| Weight | 6.5 kg/m² ± 0.5 |
| Item code | MBFZS |
| Substrate | Mineral powder, sand and fibreglass, pressed in a steel mould |
| Fire | EN 13501-1 A2-s1,d0, on a non-combustible substrate |
| Fixing | Polymer adhesive, or mechanical fixings on a ventilated frame |
| MOQ | Stocked colours ship from stock, no minimum |
| Lead time | 3–5 days for stock, 20–25 days for production |
Fitting it
Four steps, and the third one is the one that goes wrong.
Questions we get asked
What does axed mean?
A hand tool finish. The face is taken down with a mason’s axe rather than a chisel or a saw, which leaves flat facets instead of grooves.
Is the relief deep enough to feel?
About 3 mm, so yes under a hand and no under a sleeve. It is the gentlest of the rough finishes.
Does it look like the culture stone?
No. Culture stone is stacked strips with deep shadows. This is a flat-ish wall with tool marks, and it works in rooms where the stacked pattern would be too much.
Can it go outside?
Yes, with the exterior face and a drained substrate.
Sample of Axed Stone
A4 offcut, posted from Ningbo, free. Ask for the colour card too — it covers all thirty-seven surfaces in the series.
Same series