Indiana limestone comes in an elegant range of shades – from silver blue to rich, creamy tan – and textures, ranging from consistently smooth to a rustic blend of assorted grain and fossil sizes. While Bybee Stone Company follows the classification guidelines of the Indiana Limestone Institute, Indiana limestone is a natural material that can range either subtly or substantially from one shade to another within any given sample.
When it comes to finishes, Bybee Stone Company is capable of providing any finish your project may require. If your design needs a particular textural finish, talk to us, and we’ll make the tools to get the finish right. Our finishes include, but are not limited to: plucked, tooled, bushhammer, crandle, 9-point, rock face, split face, plow, chatsawn, and shotsawn.
For further information on the physical and structural characteristics of Indiana limestone, please visit the Indiana Geological Survey’s page on Indiana limestone.
Buff Smooth
Buff Indiana limestone varies from a light creamy shade to a brownish buff. Grain size can be fine to moderately large, and the stone has an average amount of the following characteristics: calcite streaks or spots, fossils or shelly formations, pit holes, reedy formations, open texture streaks, honeycomb formations, iron spots, travertine-like formations and grain formation changes.
Featured Projects:
Iowa State Capitol
Millennium Park
Schermerhorn Symphony Center
Gray Smooth
Gray Indiana limestone varies from a light silvery gray to bluish gray. Grain size can be fine to moderately large, and the stone has an average amount of the following characteristics: calcite streaks or spots, fossils or shelly formations, pit holes, reedy formations, open texture streaks, honeycomb formations, iron spots, travertine-like formations and grain formation changes.
Featured Project Page:
Seattle Art Museum
Variegated Smooth
Variegated Indiana limestone will contain an uncertain percentage of individual stones containing both buff and gray coloring. You might also have individual stones that are either all buff or all gray. The grade of texture can be from a fine grain in size to a coarse grain. You might also find all the usual characteristics of Indiana limestone as described above.
Variegated Indiana limestone is in no way a lower quality than buff or gray. Its lower relative cost stems from lower labor costs – there is no need to separate out specific colors or grades of stone. Many high profile projects have utilized Variegated Indiana limestone to great effect, including the Pentagon, Reagan Building and Federal Triangle, all in Washington, D.C.
Rustic Buff
Rustic buff color varies from a light creamy shade to a brownish buff with some silvery shades possible. Grain size can be fine to very coarse, and the stone might have an above average amount of calcite streaks or spots, fossils or shelly formations, pit holes, reedy formations, open texture streaks, honeycomb formations, iron spots, travertine-like formations and grain formation changes.
Featured Projects:
Duke Divinity School
Whitman College
Chatsawn
This finish is a result of using a coarse abrasive during the gang sawing operation, which produces a coarse, pebbled surface that has the appearance of sand blasting. It will sometimes contain shallow saw marks or parallel scores. Direction of the score or saw marks will be vertical and/or horizontal unless the direction is specified. This finish might have a slight variation in color due to the presence of iron oxide in the saw slurry, a result of the wearing of the steel saw blades. This finish can be applied only to flat surfaces, and it is particularly suited to the various types of ashlar. For best economy, its use should be confined to the coarser grades of stone.
Shotsawn
This is a coarse, uneven finish ranging from a pebbled surface to one ripped with irregular, roughly parallel grooves. The random markings are obtained by using steel shot in the gang sawing process in combination with chat sand. The steel shot rusts during the process, permitting varying amounts of rust stain to develop and adding permanent brown tones to the natural color variations. It is not possible to obtain complete uniform distribution of the shot grooves over the entire surface of the stone. Some portions will have only a chat sawed finish. A shot sawed finish can be applied to flat surfaces only and should be confined to the coarser grades. Direction of the grooves will be vertical and/or horizontal in the stone unless the direction is specified.