The lack of hydrophobic properties of many products often limits their storage, transport or application abilities in the areas where they would be otherwise valuable as raw materials because of their other characteristics. The development of new technologies allows for the modification of such products by means of providing them with waterproof properties, which gives a chance of extending the scope of their application both in everyday life, and in many industries. Research carried out into this field is related both to the new methods of manufacturing hydrophobic materials and their characterization. The development of new methods of hydrophobization of solids entails a necessity of a thorough study of the properties of the received product. An overview of the literature on the subject suggests that although there was a lot of attention referred to hydrophobic processes, usually the studies concerned the issue of securing building materials, which is the subject concentrating on the specific interaction between moisture and a large surface. The phenomena occurring during the hydrophobization of fine solids is rarely described in literature. The test methods applied then can only be used in the case of some specific materials or situations as, for example, during the determination of stearin content in an anti-explosive lime dust (Polish Standard 1994). The purpose of the study was to assess the possibilities of using standard methods of examination of the nature of the surface of the solids for the evaluation of the degree of hydrophobization of fine materials. Developing a coherent methodology for characterising this type of materials would be important for the assessment of the method of hydrofobization processes. Such studies may result in a larger use of hydrophobic materials in the fields more precise than construction or mining industries - in the production of bioseparation equipment, mikrofluid apparatuses and equipment for transporting liquids without losses. Lime dust from the Czatkowice Quarry (Buczek, Vogt 2008) was used as a raw material. The research into hydrophobization of the material used in industry, i.e. lime dust does not only have a practical value, but also a cognitive one. Such a research thus creates the possibility to compare the properties of modified dusts with the hydrophobic properties of an anti-explosive lime dust, which is well tested (Polish Standard 1994). In this study, four research methods were used: 'floating on water surface', stearin extraction with ethyl ether solution, a film flotation and a capillary rise method. The last one - capillary rise method seems to be the most promising for the achievement of the objective of the research.