Drilling slate

farmerjohn

Well-known Member
My wife has an old roof slate shingle that she wants to paint a picture on, and asked me to drill another hole in it so she can hang it up the way she wants. What is the tool and procedure to do this without breaking the slate? Thanks for any suggestions.
 
A carbide masonry bit will wrk. do it against a piece of soft wood, and do not use hammer drill function. Jim
 
Dont let anyone tell you that you need special tools for Roof Slate is easily drilled. Hss drill bits does a good job. If you were doing a roof I would suggest Hss Titanium bits. But the truth is roof slate is very soft and just about any bit will drill a hole in it.

Lay the slate on a piece of soft wood where you want the hole to support it to allow the bit to pass cleanly though the slate. Drill on medium speed if you have a three speed like like mine or on fast if you have a variable or two speed drill.
 
Oh jolly good show! When I was a kid my dad and I went to a slate pit up in Pennsylvania around the early 60s. These Italian or Irish slate cutters would have a block of cut slate the length and width but maybe five or six inches thick. They used a tool to slice on the layer line or natural fracture. Think the tool is a type of fallow. They would pop off maybe 10 or 12 slates from this piece and then turn to their other side. Here was a slate punch. Little frame where the slate lay flat. There was a little adjustable bar with a handle and punch pins. Slide the slate in, pull down on the handle, and crunch! Not many broken ones and there were two piles of slate dust under the punches. I have no idea how many slate those guys could do in a day but there were piles of slate stacked on there sides and there were hundreds! The only thing I remember that was worse was looking over the edge of the pit. WOW was that ever a darn long way down!!! My dad would use a hard wood block and a center punch. Same gentle tap, tap, tap deal. But he would have a piece of hard wood with two predrilled holes. Had a template made from a sheet of aluminum. Just line it up and tap,tap.Slate is not that hard so just a cordless drill and a good drill bit. When it wears out get another one. A good piece of hardwood to back it up. Pretty much...do a little practice.
 

I have never installed Slate of a roof. But did do a large section two walls of a two story house. I thought the guy was nuts for wanting slate for siding. The slate we used came pre-cut in 12" x 16" sheets much like tile. I and the guy helping had jigs made that lined up two holes in each sheet that we drilled with regular Cobalt bits. We would drill slate for three hours and then put it up. Next day go back and do it again. On the corners we used a piece of push mower blade that I cut about 6" long to score the slate and it would just snap off. Than smooth the edges using the blade.. . I liked the way that it came out first time I ever saw it done. But it has held up for the past 6 years.
 
Any slate roofers I ever watched took a nail and put the slate where they wanted it and drove the nail through and into the sheeting. Slate nails on just like shingles
 

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