suffolk flints

came across this site - shame its so far from me or i would take a look. -



http://www.needhamchalks.co.uk/products/flints/

Interesting they say flints can be made to any shape and knapped manually or mechanically.

They have a knapping machine..... our days are numbered.

I've also been to the flint quarry they use, some of the stuff in the gallery page is made from it.

Mmmm...... Might be worth a little visit.

haha - this is where i got my flint - give bernie a call (his name and number are on the site), he's a smashing chap! he even had a visit from John C Whittaker just before my last visit and showed me a hand axe he had made from their local flint, there will apparantly be a pic of them together in his latest book. it's flint heaven there

wow does anyone fancy a trip - i have a van,

which of their quarrys was that pic taken skalla?

it's near swaffam, follow the road north from there on google earth, look for the whacking great white thing! or just call bernie, i got a (big!) car load on each of my two visits for nowt - it was (in part lol) for students at my college so he said it was gratis as it was for a good cause. he has quite a few knappers come by! they have a fair few varieties too, not just local stuff, and bloody great mountains of it... my jaw dropped when i first saw the place

Thanks skalla much appreciated. i have a job to install in the area in late june so would have an empty van to come home with, just cant help myself but call in,

i'll pm you more info (when i find it, i must remember not to tidy up)

thanks for the info,



the quary is not to far from Grimes Graves, i wonder if the flint is of the same quality? have you got any pics of what you have knapped with it?

No probs!

there is a fair bit of variety there, from local stuff in lumpy tablets and fingers, to peridoules (sp?) and french cobbles. The light grey stuff and the french cobbles are very very hard so may be best avoided, but the dark grey stuff is lovely. get a wide selection is the best advice i can give you, then you'll know what you like for your next visit. some of the nice looking stuff has little chalky holes going through but i dont know how to predict that - if you have a van load tho you should be fine

as for what i have knapped from it - i dont have much to show but a pile of dust and a lot of lessons learnt - which are priceless. my knapping really developed after i took those lessons and applied them to glass, i made this knife though and any other flint points i have posted, all early work in my own journey.

I have been to this quarry only once, and it is awesome! the flint tends to be a bit grey and blotchy, the ovate handaxe picture in replicating an achealian handaxe topic is the only thing I have made from Bernie's flint, sadly I was in a rush and got only two pieces. He said take what you want, though if you where to want a ton he would have to charge! Good man...

Still haven't got away south on holiday yet, but this is definately now on my list.

Having found out about this quarry on this forum I called in last weekend on my way to somewhere else.

Bernie is a great bloke (with a great local accent). As other people have said he just told me to get what I wanted and all he wanted in return was a donation to their tea fund. I took three half full rubble bags (half full was as much as I could lift and three half bags was all I had space for).

Bernie pointed me towards the 'black' flint and said other people had spent some tiime banging bits together to see if they 'rang' true.

As a complete novice (still not done any actual knapping) I took pot luck rather then selecting 'good' pieces.

So hope to make some time for having a bash (literally!)

Thanks for letting us know about Bernie and this quarry .



By the way ..... if you pay a visit make sure you have plenty of old blankets etc lining your car as the chalk dust can make a bit of a mess.

i will be interested to see what you knap with them Elines, doesnt look like i will get to the area for a while but i am looking forward to going.

Took this vid on my visit, yesterday. Some seriously large flint nodules there.

I am just Sooo in the wrong country......

Hopefully getting down to the Oxford area at the end of September, so with the blessing of the Gods, I can visit this place myself.

Lumpendoodle wrote:I am just Sooo in the wrong country......

Hopefully getting down to the Oxford area at the end of September, so with the blessing of the Gods, I can visit this place myself.

its a good way from Oxford but if you are in Oxford i have seen fields covered in flint but the bits i collected seemed to fracture as i think they had been weathered.

great vid Grendel, i so envy you, would love to have some of that flint. you will have to take a few pics of the flint you took and show some before and after pics.

I have seen thier knapping machine, it's a large guillotine type thing. Looks like it will crush fingers with ease!

Got a car boot load, knaps lovely made my first attempt today.



Here's the before and after as requested.

mr.hertzian cone wrote:I have seen thier knapping machine, it's a large guillotine type thing. Looks like it will crush fingers with ease!

They use a machine to do it. Interesting I thought they employed knappers to make the bricks.

That looks great.

Novice question - is it okay to call and just 'drop in' at the quarry?

cheers

Yes, fine. However I gave Bernie a call first on his mobile and let him know I was coming. He drives the diggers and comes over to meet you when you arrive and shows you where all the best flint is.

http://www.needhamchalks.co.uk/products/flints/

just having a drool over the pile of flint and video - how much do they charge for the flint?