HONEY ONYX is an enchanting stone that we have made many switch plates from. It is also consistently the most difficult stone to work with, which sometimes affects the quality of the finished product and our lead time. About one in four orders of Honey Onyx switch plates will have noticeable chipping around the cut outs and one in ten will be pronounced. We do everything we can to reduce chipping, from using new, sharp, tools to epoxying between each step of the process. One last issue with Honey Onyx, and some onyx in general, is that it is a translucent stone that you can sort of see through. Since switch plates are so thin and we epoxy the back either the electrical fixture or magnets can create a darker spot in the switchplate when installed. Depending on how translucent your onyx is this may be somewhat noticeable after installation, even if you are not looking for it.
With other types of onyx there are no special problems with making switch plates, except for translucence with some Persian Green Onyx or White Onyx.
For information on prices and ordering visit our Prices/Ordering page.
Magnetic double gang Honey Onyx switch plate. You can just see the faint shadows of the magnets on the white background. Once installed they will be less visible.
Screw on toggle and duplex Honey Onyx switchplate. The Honey Onyx switchplates in these photos are typical for this stone.
This is about as bad as the chipping may get. Notice the well defined crystals in the stone. This is an indicator that the stone is very fragile which will increase chipping.
This is the other extreme for Honey Onyx. There are no defined crystals so the stone holds together well, reducing chipping.
Persian Green Onyx switch plate
An Arizona Onyx switch plate
