slate alternatives for chalkboard

[JWD]

Morning all,

I've been asked to make someone 'a cheeseboard' with little direction other than the customer wants to be able to label or have a section for each cheese.
My initial thoughts are to go with a simple large charcuterie board but routing a groove in the top along the long edge, and using it to hold some small slate squares that the new owner can write whatever they like on.

Only problem is its a bit of a pain finding small squares of slate. Has anyone used the cheaper alternatives like the paint/spraypaint?

cheers for your input!

Joe.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Cut down a roofing slate?

 

[Doug71]

The wife has a deli and off licence, I have made many blackboards for her just out of MDF painted with blackboard paint. They work fine with chalk but there are some blackboard pens that are harder to rub off (big wipes seem to work), some are fine though. When they are looking a bit scruffy we just give them another coat, goes on really easy, covers well and dries quickly. Used quite a few different makes and not noticed much difference between them.

Doug

 

[novocaine]

as it's for a cheese board and thus needs to be cleanable I'd suggest that the paints aren't going to do.

how big of a writing area do you need?

perhaps look at something like a slate mosaic tile (see below) as a source of small bits of slate

https://www.tilers-world.com/a~tw-8163- ... 7kEALw_wcB

Slate can be cut on a wet saw, you might find a nice tile shop will cut you up a slate floor tile.

 

[Geoff_S]

I made a shuv ha'penny board a few years ago. It needed 2 slate edges about 30mm wide 240mm long so that the players could chalk the scores.

I used a cheap slate table mat, easily cut on a wet disc saw tile cutter machine thing.

There are loads of slate table mats & coasters on eBay cheap as chips.

 

[Brandlin]

i think i'd got to a local tile shop and see if they have any discounts on small volumes of tiles... you can pick up a huge range of dark colours these days and they come in sizes from an inch square upwards - you can also cut them with a tile cutter.

ceramic will be food safe and you will only need a china pencil or one of those white blackborad pens to write on and wipe off?

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Inigo Jones specialise in making all sorts of bits and bats out of slate near Caernarfon in North Wales, where they're knee deep in the stuff. They may do something in their standard catalogue, but if not, they're very amenable to doing specials.

http://www.inigojones.co.uk/products.php