Flint stone (silex) kilt pin????

[Mipi]

I did some searching on forum, but haven't found any posts related to my question.

On the vacation on Sardinia we found many interesting flint stones in different shapes, colour variations... The smaller and lighter could be nice kilt pins. Almost each of them has some different stone type mixed in and those different colours can find some similarities with some tartans, just maybe.

So what do you think, my friends? Any examples to see? Any hints for working (grinding, polishing, gluing) with the stone?

Regards!


Mipi

[Chas]

Tumbling and polishing will be hard work - flint is hard. I think it's a 7 on the Moh scale. (Diamond is 10). I live in East Anglia, so only know the black flint. But it is found here in chalk so the outer layer is often contaminated with a chalk amalgam. Sometimes this amalgam is stained reddish/brown by the action of ferric oxide (rust), but that is of course artificial.

Regards

Chas

[ThistleDown]

Big Mikey makes kilt pins of jade and pewter. You might PM him if he doesn't pick up on this thread.

[Mipi]

Thanks guys. I'm a bit concerned also about how heavy such pin would be. Will see...

[Tartan Hiker]

Here's a pin I made from a quartzite spear point. I set it into molten pewter, then hollowed out the rear to lighten it up. It is still rather heavy, so I wear it half-way up the apron edge as I have seen in early 1900's photos.