Clench

["Beverley Wright" <Bev.Wright@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi John,
Yes, but I'm not sure I'd carve 'CLUNCH' again!?
It's really easy to carve, one could use a spoon to do so.
So I suppose 'twould be a fair stone to begin carving with, ordinary wood
chisels are ok to work it.
I know it's used for some building work, there are one or two churches built
in Cambridgeshire & Tottenhoe Clunch in my neck of the woods, the Midlands,
but from what I understand it needs to be capped for it to stand up to the
weather.
It's a fairly boring mid grey colour with a smattering of hard shell
material throughout, these can be a trifle worrying. The first whack doesn't
remove it, the second harder whack doesn't remove it, the third yet harder
whack removes it along with a crater of stone surrounding it, so I found it
best to work round the hard shell bits and come back to them with a file,
not too course.
The reason I say I wouldn't use it again is because it has no tensile
strength, you certainly don't wanna be carving fine detail such as fingers
or ringlets of hair.
It's a devilish stone in that respect, because it beckons you in fooling you
into thinking that you'll be able to deeply undercut it, don't go there, it
will only end in tears.
As long as one keeps to a fairly amorphic shape / form, and it doesn't live
outside, then it should be fine.
If you feel that you might want to go in that direction, then email me back
and I'll point you in the direction of a very cheap supply.
All the best
Tony