Charlie shares a description of our recent trip to a local slate mill…
“At the Vermont Structural Slate Company, we were toured through the facility from the beginning of the cutting process to the finishing. We followed 10-ton blocks of slate from the parking lot, to the enormous water-fed saws that cut them, to the storage area containing all massive racks of the rough-cut blocks, and finally to the room where assorted men and machinery cut them to size and applied the finishes. Among the slate harvested was unfading green, purple, heathermoor, and red slate. To finish out the trip we hopped on the industrial scale, topping out over 1000 pounds. Yeah, we're heavyweights.”
Outside the mill, we spoke with the owner (in red and black) about the quarries the slate comes from and how the slate is transported.
The slate is warm from the spring sunshine—perfect for thermal mass.
This saw was terrifying and awe-inspiring. Spinning at a couple hundred RPM, the blade was automatically lowered 3/4" after each pass as it slowly cut the slab. Wow.
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