drilling holes in slate

[morrik27]

I've managed to get hold of some old slate roof tiles, in various states of repair... I'm wanting to use them for the roof of a covered bird table, but some of them will need to be cut, and drilled so they can be fixed.

So, the question... Do i need a special drill bit to drill out the new holes? I understand these would have been punched originally, could this also be an option for a small job like this?

All I could find on the web were questions about using core drills for larger hole in bit bits, any ideas or experience in this?

 

[Alastairreid]

a small masonry drill will suffice.
cut or bore slates from the back to retain the chamfered edges.
you can cut them using a thin piece of metal or axe.
when slating your bird table start by using the heaviest slates first finishing with lighter as you get to top.

 

[Bodgeit and scarper ltd]

 

[Thermo]

no that wont drill a hole in slate!

 

[morrik27]

no that wont drill a hole in slate!

Also i said it was a bird house - not a house for some bird

 

[DeadJoe]

Or you could make the bird table to the size of your slate.

That's what I did, using an old Ikea pine bedside table thingy for the main structure of the bird-table, which happened to be just the right size so that two slates fitted at 90 degrees to their normal orientation could be stuck on the roof with a bit of pine profile to make the ridge.

The sparrows love it.