Stone - Cutting york stone

[brandon]

I need to cut york flag stone to give a natural cut rather than with a mechanical cutter. Is there a tool to use? ie a stone bolster, if so could you tell me what it is called and where to get one from that is inexpensive. ???

[Tony McC]

To acheive a fettled edge, we'd cut york stone using a Pitching Chisel (aka Pitcher). However, cutting with a pitcher is a skilled job and not summat you can just do without any practice. The basic principles involved in cutting with a pitcher are shown on the Cutting In page of the main website.

This cut edge - will just the top arris be seen, or the whole edge? If it's just the arris, then you can cut with a saw and 'nobble' the arris with a small hammer to make it look as though it's been cut with hand tools. If it's all of the edge that's on view, a pitcher is your only real option. This brings problems of its own, as pitchers are not all that easy to find - B&Q or ScrewFix don't sell them as they are specialist masonry tools that you can only get from specialist masonry tool suppliers such as CMS in Halifax.