Securing reclaimed hand made tiles to batten problem

[Franalogue]

I have a roofer coming to make me an entire roof later in the year. I think he is going to have a fit when he sees the tiles! They are stunning but I don't think he will be able to throw them on like they were uniform tiles as they are so oompti. My question is this. I have bought the last couple of thousand that I need from a reclaim yard and the chap that sold them to me said the best thing to do with them because the nibs are either worn, small or non existent is to cut the shoulders off them and nail between with a large headed nail that will help hold them on to the batten. This makes sense to me. I am worried about the sheer amount of work this will involve but maybe that is what we have to do.
Is this standard practice please and if so, exactly what nails do I have to get for this purpose. Presumably with wide heads. Would you nail every row? The chap said to put on a row of machine mades that have holes in for nails every third row but that would look terrible I suspect? Any advice gratefully received thanks.

 

[datarebal]

forget what the reclaimation guy says. the roofer should know the best approach.
can you post a picture so we can see the exact tile ?

 

[Franalogue]

Hi, no means of posting a photo but they are a mix of all sorts of old hand made tiles. Some of them I suspect will never make it onto the roof as they are so weirdly shaped and flared at the bottom to catch the wind. Lots have no nibs at all and so I might try and drill them maybe? Thanks for the reply.

 

[datarebal]

shapes mean nothing... hand mades.. tile for every place and a place for every tile.

Take care during laying .. and do not just chuck them on. its that simple

 

[Franalogue]

Thanks New Forest Roofer. I suspect this fell won't take the artisan approach that you take sadly.

 

[pilsbury]

Only having experience of doing one roof, my own, I echo datarebal's advice. My reclaims were handmade plain tiles and many would not seem to fit. Just a case of not using that particular one in that place. Later on the offending tile fit nicely against another one. Probably only had a handful at the end that were unusable