Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption
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barefoot_boo
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old slate roofing tilesRound the back of the garage we have a pile (about 250-ish) of welsh slate roofing tiles which we have no real need for. Any ideas on what we can do with them? Just had a bloke up here who says if we crate them up, he'll take them all then sort through by hand and give us 30p each for the usable ones. Does this sound like a fair deal? I'm a bit wary of him taking them all and only paying us for the 'usable' ones - how do I know how many he really deems as usable? 
Money's a bit tight at the mo' (the joys of rural living eh?), so I'm wondering if there is anything else I could do with them (with a view to selling the end product) rather than just try and flog them 'as is'. Any ideas? Placemats, coasters, house name signs etc?
thanks in advance you creative lot 
boo
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Gervase
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Doesn't sound a bad deal. Reclaim price for slates in tip=top condition is around £1 each, crated and checked, so if he's going to sort and pack them, that sounds fair enough.
Of course, if they're all the same size and in decent nick you could advertise them yourself. What size are they?
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sally_in_wales
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Slate is very nice to engrave on, so if you are a dab hand with a dremel or other rotary engraver you could have a go at doing the name signs, watch the dust obviously, and the best thing to colour the engravings with is coloured wax though acrylic works too.
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dpack
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sort them ,sell perfects and seconds
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James
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our place mats and coasters are made of welsh grey slate. Our tea pot stand is made of Cumbrian green slate. I've cut used corks thinly and stuck to the underside. Easy & looks good, if a little heavy.
Oh yeh- I cut these to size with a slate cutter.
I'd imagine you could achieve similar by holding the piece you wish to keep pressed down firmly in between two large heavy blocks of wood (4 x 2 ?), maybe with a little padding- a magazine or something to avoid sharp knocking. Position slate so that the straight edge to be cut is dirrectly at the edge of the wooden blocks, then strike sharply with a wide bladed cold chisel (maisonary chisel) & hammer. You could use the broken slates to cut down to coasters & the whole slates as place mats. You'd still need to tidy up the place mats by trimming off the slanted ends with holes in.
You can tell which area they came from by the degree of pattening. If I remember correctly, the slates from the northern Welsh slate field (northern Snowdonia) have more grey streaks in them, while the slates from the southern welsh slate field (southern Snowdonia) have few / no grey streaks. There's also something about the frequency of dimples of pyrite, and the degree of lustre but I cant remeber that..  . In southern England (esp. London) most slate came from the northern field- easier to get it to the coast for transportation. In the Midlands, most slate came from the southern field- transported via the Hollyhead road (A5).
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