Garden Railway Forum

What about real slate tiles?

Select a nice chunk of square slate about half an inch thick.

Get a hacksaw and cut it into a block, and then cut it into the rough size of your tiles with the hacksaw, Immideately put it in a bucket of water, then leave it overnight.

Get the blade from an old pencil sharpener and a toffee hammer.

Get the block of slate, and stand it on end, split the block in half so its now 2 pieces quater of an inch thick, repeat this, chopping it in the middle each time till you have roof tiles. if you do it like slicing cheese, a bit at a time, it usually just comes off in pieces and you get cut.

To split, place the blade across sharp side on the slate, blunt side, tap with the hammer repeatedly- not too hard, but you will get a feel for it. DONT slit your fingers open, it WILL hurt. use a pair of pliars to hold the blade if you think you will chop your digit off or smack your thumb

This isnt my idea, i learnt it from a friend, it works well, and ive just returned form bryneglwys quarry in wales with some 'prime' cuts of slate.

its waterproof, being slate and whats scrap can be made into platform edging stones/ slate waste wagons etc

Leaving it in water is important, it wont split otherwise this small.

If you loose fingers, eyes, other body parts, explode in a horrible firey way, its nowt t do with me  :lol:

Ill try to make a video- Couldnt do it tonight in the end, but over the next few days, ill make an attempt.

Edit-: I learnt this off a friend, so I wont be claiming it as my idea! but hope it helps someone!

Would the friend be Mr. Perryman per chance? I made enough slates to fill a huge slate wagon with them in one day, The slate wagon wouldn't cope with the weight so I used them for roofing slates!

Steve Thorpe- Kes's Steve of Llechfan.

Adam R:72915 wrote:
Ill try to make a video- Couldnt do it tonight in the end, but over the next few days, ill make an attempt.

I really look forward to seeing that.

You should start a production line

Scale Slate cutting sheds

Ive not got round to it just yet (swapping gearboxes and engines in my friends landrover and rebuilding one of mine!) Ill invest in a tile cutter to make life easier I think. But seeing as I have the house to myself this weekend, there may be a few temporary workshops appearing

I think it'll have to be something I can pick up and drop, I can see it being a tad tedious!

Ah yes, Lawn Mowers can eat up a lot of your time. I'm a Russian 4x4 fan myself and they are quite similar to a LR to work on.

Busted Bricks:73080 wrote:Ah yes, Lawn Mowers can eat up a lot of your time. I'm a Russian 4x4 fan myself and they are quite similar to a LR to work on.

Which one, Isnt there one that is almost a Series 2 under the skin, but with differing bodywork? or is this a thing of fables!

Mines cheap to run, which is the main reason I have it, but coz its british n that, I seem to have a fair collection now .

Sorry for the OT bit, but the LR does ship my Collection of 16mm to everyones railways

Only have an Uaz 452 left in the collection and if I don't find work soon that has to go as well. They are nice simple machines but they have nothing else in common with LR's. Nicer to drive IMHO as they are softer sprung than LR Series.

Here is a link to a video filmed at the Brandon show in 2009 showing a modeller splitting slate for garden railway wagons.
Hope it works.
http://youtu.be/1r52Jr5ROSk

Looks interesting. I probably would not have the patience to do it that way myself. What are the dimensions of the slates in 16mm anyway?
Best wishes
Colin

Thats Mr. Perryman, I think it was the 2010 show where I sat down and made a wagon load of slate. Its really very good fun!

andymctractor:81872 wrote:Here is a link to a video filmed at the Brandon show in 2009 showing a modeller splitting slate for garden railway wagons.
Hope it works.
http://youtu.be/1r52Jr5ROSk

Very useful, thank you - I've got a couple of Binnie slate wagons on order and am hoping to get some Coopercraft ones to complete a short rake, will give this technique a try to fill 'em. Is the rod holding the blade a homemade accessory does anyone know? Looks handy but I may have to resort to just tapping the blade itself - I could make something from dowel but I don't know that it would last very long before splitting itself...

Cheers,

Andrew.

This sounds interesting, sadly the video has disappeared, does anyone know of another video of this?

JCSteam:119580 wrote:This sounds interesting, sadly the video has disappeared, does anyone know of another video of this?  :)

Hi,
I found the original video file on my hard drive and have re published it.
Hope it works.

https://youtu.be/aiDB8gLCEuU

Brandon High School was the venue for the annual East Anglian Garden Railway Show before it moved to The Bressingham Steam Museum.
Note that Zak Bond appears to know the star of the video as Mr Perryman.

Hope the video works.

It did work thank you, it would take many evenings to split enough tiles to fill a long rake of them, but looks very realistic. Does it have to be floor tiles, or could you use roofing tiles?? I have access to quiet a few of them

JCSteam:119588 wrote:It did work thank you, it would take many evenings to split enough tiles to fill a long rake of them, but looks very realistic. Does it have to be floor tiles, or could you use roofing tiles?? I have access to quiet a few of them  :)

This method works fine, both with Wickes slate floor tiles and the slate place mats sold by The Range. I tried both when I completely ran out of my stock acquired from North Wales.

I'll start gathering some waste slates from work and have a go spliting them

If you're looking for tiles for buildings, I's suggext you looked at this: http://www.richardstacey.com/rooftile.html#rooftiles - they do all sorts!

Yep ive got some of those, postage mark on the box is 2010 Has it really been that long since I was last doing railways

I have a ready supply of slate tiles from work, (work for a roofing company) so id rather have them free if possible and save what I can for a steam loco

MDLR wrote: ↑Sun Aug 21, 2016 10:58 pm If you're looking for tiles for buildings, I's suggext you looked at this: http://www.richardstacey.com/rooftile.html#rooftiles - they do all sorts!

Thanks Brian, nice site.