Flint Ballast

[OnewiththewilD]

actually they all come from the same block of ballast but theres different colors in different sections.some of its brown,some gray,some tannish.but when the chunk is thick it all looks black till ya bust it up.in fact after you bust it up none of it looks black at all.

[sneakygroundbuzzard]

all the english flint i have workes was purchased at a local rock shop
so i have to take his word for what it is,but it was always black in color
becomes a little translucent when thinned down bit still black in color
the french flint that i have had the pleasure to work came directly from france
i guy had brought it to a knapp in and asked if i could make a point from it for him,so i did
it was brown in color even before being reduced down
i have two more pieces of it that he gave me,bith brown in color
i find the french flint a lot easier to work than the english flint,even with out being heat treated
kind of a funny story about that french flint
this guy had been over there for his job,he was in fields doing some work for some potato company
he had found several pices of this rock and brought it back home to the states
he came to a knapp in and asked me if i could make him a point from it
when he handed me the first piece i looked it over and told him could make a point from it but i wouldnt
he asked why not
then i told him because that particular piece was an artifact,infact it was a scraper
he didnt even realize what he had
then he showed me another piece and i told him i would make him a point from that one
after i finished the point and gave it to him,he offerd to give me the scraper as payment
i told him that i didnt want it
he asked why not,i told him it was his,he found it and that he should keep it
i also told him it was enough payment just to work such a nice piece of rock
thats why he gave me the other two pieces of flint he had

[painshill]

Yes... those may be your observations on what is being provided to you, but as you may have noticed I actually live in England, at the western end of one of the longest runs of flint-bearing chalk in the country (around 260 square miles of it), as well as being a frequent visitor to all parts of the UK and France for collecting purposes. Trust me... both countries have every colour and quality of flint you can imagine in great abundance.

[OnewiththewilD]

that would be awesome to have that much flint just laying around! im jealous! i guess england has its perks! :laugh: