The background: I have a new (to me) townhouse condo with a very small, L-shaped garden that is 24 ‘ wide and 14’ deep. Next to the porch there is an additional small area in the foot of the "L" that is another 10’ deep. I’m a retired teacher on a tight budget.

The opportunity: I have access to granite counter cut off scraps. Over the past few months I’ve gleaned about 15-20% of what I’d need to pave a good section of the garden from their waste pile.
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I’ve got enough now to have an idea of what I could have if I continue to collect regularly. Because they vary considerably in color and are quite slick, my notion is to place them face down with the rough side up. When wet (and I imagine when sealed) they are very soft colors and quite attractive. And they won’t be slippery when wet. (We have significant rain here.)

The pieces are narrow, from 2" – 10". The narrow pieces tend to be longer (some as much as 3’). I’ve been stacking them in piles (+/- ½") 2", 3", 4", etc. I looks like perhaps 2/3's will be in the 3"-5" widthes. In addition I have a few pieces up to 16" wide. I generally only collect pieces at least 10"-12" long, but I'm keeping some shorter as fill-ins.

About ½ of the scraps have one or both short ends cut cleanly. Some were broken, but could be epoxyed back together to make a single longer piece.

My idea is to use stripes of a single width going from the widest out to the narrowest, then return with a stripe of a different width from the widest to the narrowest. I think I can keep the variation of the width of any single stripe down to less than 1/2" over a lenghth (no less 6' and no more than 12'). And fill the voids with polymeric sand. All this on a base of gravel topped with sand. For a solid edge I might use heavy timbers or make a concrete "curb".

Would this likely work? Is it simply going to be tacky looking? (I’ve tried a 2’x5’ layout on the garage floor and thought it look pretty good when I wet the stone.) A few questions come to mind:

1: on the jagged ends of each stone (that might leave a triangular gap of as much as 2" at the base of the triangle) do I need to trim these off (how to do that? How much effort is it?) or possibly square them up with a patch of some sort (concrete, epoxy, what?)
2. is granite scrap worth working with? (I need to decide now, before I collect even more.)
Thanks,

David

FYI - If you want to trim the ends off, rent a masonry saw from a tool shop. We rented one for $60/day to cut all we needed. A regular circular saw is underpowered for cutting granite. It is not "hard" but it is very messy and requires concentration. The saw does all the hard work, but you have to be careful!

I think I can gather my "stuff" over the next two months or so but need to finish this by April because the summers here are simply too hot and too humid for heavy work and my helper-elect nephew is a senior in high school this year. I'll post pix "if and when" but the if factor has been significantly reduced by your post!

I think what I probably need to do is rent the heavy wet saw and buy a new blade for it. Any advice on blade sources? I'd like to learn something so I can ask the right questions. Sales folks like to sell whatever it is they have at hand...and for the highest price.

Since I'm getting free materials and free labor, I can afford to be a little more free with other expenses. A tool I could buy would have allowed me to do the trimming on a piecemeal basis as I have time and energy, but I guess I'll need to spend one miserable day as opposed to a misterable hour here and there over a few months.

Friends! I can't tell you how much I appreciate these helpful comments. Keep 'em coming.

#1 The granite pieces will only need to have a single rough end trimed to more or less square it up. The cut does not have to be especially clean and will not be polished. That might have some effect on my choice of tool and/or method. For example (oh, how I hate to have to show just how ignorant I am), I suspect that granite is not a material that can be scored and then broken off, but perhaps there is some other technique.

#2 I have some similar size marble (it is thinner than the granite) and I've been told you can score it on four sides, break it and it will be rough, but more or less even. Since I want to make small bases for my wife's sculpture (none, so far, larger than a small coffee can in dimensions, the rough end would be quite acceptable. I'm thinking of an grinder and a diamond blade for that. (Marble and granite are both stone, but very, very different. Marble is (relatively) soft.

If you are renting a good wet saw, it should come with a good diamond blade, you shouldn't have to provide your own. Our tool rental place was $40 for half day, $60 for full day. You could consider doing it a half day at a time, just so you don't go crazy with boredom of the same thing over and over.

Also, make sure you have good ear-protection when using the saw, it's quite loud when cutting.

The wet saw was necessary not for a clean polished edge (which it did) but simply because the granite is just too hard to do any quantity. I don't know if it could be scored and broken.

Check out this link which is a series of links on cutting granite. Those sites should give you better advice. Be sure to page down past the multiple advertisements for the actual links.