Thread: Thornwick Bay, North Yorkshire, Flint Rockhounding.

I've just got back from a few days visiting my family in North Yorkshire (England).

As with most trips back home I make my mother take me off to a random location for a walk and a hunt for rocks. Normally we don't get anything of substance. But this time I wanted to go to a site I knew from childhood produced flint.

Flamborough head is a chalk outcrop, that breaks into the north sea. It looks a little like a smaller version of the white cliffs of Dover. And most of the bays are either tourist attractions, or totally inaccessible. The main bay produces no flint, The one slightly north has washed up flint and some in the chalk. So I wanted to push into a less visited beach and just have a walk about and see what we could see.

Unfortunately I was visiting for a funeral and didn't have space in my bags to take a camera. So I'll have to use stock photo's for the location.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/search.../data=!3m1!1e3


Picture © Dr Patty McAlpin

https://ukbeaches.guide/places/unite...h/#post_images

The flint from here looks to be decent enough. It's large enough to cut stone from, And plentiful enough that with a decent walk you should be able to find a few good sizes crack free lumps. Slightly translucent, Mid grey in tone. I'll know more once I have the first rock split as to inclusions and quality.

I've picked up 4 good sized blocks. 3 of them are been dropped off on Sunday for me, I did bring one back on the train and I'll put pictures up later today when I get the camera sorted.

This is the first block. I think I'm going to flapper wheel it before I make any cuts and see how deep those cracks run. I'm hoping I'll be able to get a stone out of the longer dimension 7-ish inches long.

That looks like really hard rock. I can't wait to see what you get out of it. My last two hauls did not end well, I hope you have some nice pieces cut from your new rock. Brings a smile to my face when others are rock hounding too.

I'm thinking it should be on the Novaculite scale, Flint/Chert/Novaculite all been pretty similar if not identical in a lot of ways.

Looking at the flaking and the waxy sheen I recon if I can get a stone out of it without inclusions it should be a finisher or very near to.

One of the other blocks has a nice pink tinge to it as well so that might make a pretty hone.

Also from the same location we did a bit of pebble hunting. I recon I got some jasper and we found loads of it so there must be a vein in the deeper marl under the sea.

Nice. I think you are right about the type of rock you have. On a recent outing we found some big pieces of what I think is green Jasper. I am always pebble hunting, the wife does too and we have quite a lot of interesting little rocks and pebbles all over over house and yard.

Awesome find! Looks like some mighty fine hone material you got there.

I like the way those little red pebbles look too. I went cross country to visit a buddy on the West Coast. Got some neat looking pebbles from the shores of Puget Sound. They now reside in my fish tank.

Would it be cheating if I got a diamond blade for my horizontal bandsaw?

I'm seriously looking into one thinking it might be a lot easier than messing with the angle grinder.

I would be envious if you did. A diamond blade on a horizontal bandsaw would be the bomb!

Well I think I can make the budget for the blade available. I was thinking about making a 400mm (16") Stone saw. The blade alone would be a serious investment at that size, Plus bearings, spindle, motor, pulleys and a cage. And when that's all made I still have to stand there and feed the stone to the blade. 300mm (12") blades while cheaper by a fair margin require me to pick up a saw with a 20mm arbour, And you have to stand and cut it manually from above. I already have a 230mm (9") angle grinder that was previously used to cut stone but it has a 22.3mm bore.

The bandsaw would self feed, cut straight, and a bottle drip feed with bucket water catcher is almost an automated system. I'll have to have a look at blade costs seriously. I can if need be order an uncut length of blade and do the welding and annealing at home. I'm already setup with a TIG welder and stainless filler and or braze.

I can't wait to see a stone from this. Is there not some place near you that cuts granite or quarts for countertops and such? Seems like you could get it cut for a lot less trouble and expense than doing it yourself, unless you plan on cutting more.