What to do with a large piece of slate?

[TwoJ's]

I recently took an old pool table off someone's hands with the intentions of refinishing it and putting it in my front room. Since then I have realized that I bit off more than I could chew for the time being, and I am abandoning the project. The table was in pretty bad shape and needed a lot of work to get into nice shape.

So I will be hacking it up and using it for fire wood... I'll hauls all of the rails and bumpers and shit off to the landfill, but I sure as hell am not going to pay to dispose of a 400+ lbf piece of rock. Also, I think it would be kind of cool to make something out of it. I originally wanted to draw something up and throw a small piece of it on the CNC, but then I quickly realized how brittle the slate is so that will likely end up with me being disappointed.

From what I can tell, I can basically make straight cuts with a wet circular saw and a masonry blade, and possibly drilling holes with a masonry bit. But what the hell can I make?

I was thinking a nice table top for the bench I am going to put in my garage? Anyone have any other ideas for me? It is 9'x4.5' so I've got quite a bit to play with.

[TwoJ's]

Also, could I sell it or is that a pipe dream? I see for a new 9 foot slate top it goes for almost $500 new... but this one is probably 30 years old.

[e3o-master]

sell it to someone doing an island countertop in kitchen

[BillBrasky]

I scrapped out an old bar room pool table about 4 years ago. I kept the slate and used it as a nice outdoor welding bench. I put down 6 55 gallon drums, then an old sheet of steel grating for support and laid the 1" slate down on top. It allowed me to weld large, heavy items and have the ability to walk around it 360 degrees without having to move the part.

[e30devo]

put it on craigslist with a sale price.. im sure youll get calls on it.

[BobombETA]

come fix the slate sidewalk in front of my house.

[deutschman]

use it for the bath room! i love slate showers! they are so sick! i lived in a summer house for a few weeks on the east coast that was all seeder wood and had bathroom tiled completely in slate. it was incredibly nice.

[mrsleeve]

If you do any precision type of work it will make a great table top for that.

Get a finer toothed diamond mason blade ( not a carbide tipped or fiber blade) cut it very slowly and with lots of water, and you should be able to get really really good cuts.

A inlay for a really nice (but heavy) coffee, end table set or kitchen/dining room table top.

a good entry way floor to remove you boots or shoes on before getting onto the carpet.

Neat desk top, or night stand top

or just still refinish the pool table and use it for playing pool on.

[HiTheNameIsBJ]

If a pool table has one soild piece of slate, doesn't that normally indicate it's high quality? Might be worth restoring.

[TwoJ's]

It was a pretty nice table in its day. It is pretty old, and was a coin-op table, likely in a bar somewhere. It wasn't nice wood or anything on the rails and panels, it had fake wood paneling on it. It is a 70's looking table, and needs a lot of work restoring it. I was hell bent on doing it, but it's just going to be too much work and money to get it looking good.

[kimmelks]

get some soap stone and do math equations on it

[lennon]

blackboard

[CAOSyAMOR]

Also, could I sell it or is that a pipe dream? I see for a new 9 foot slate top it goes for almost $500 new... but this one is probably 30 years old.

LOL I bet the slate is MUCH older than that.. ;)

edit: you should make floormats out of it! It would be waterproof! Slate could be the new 'diamond plate'! ps - I want royalties if this idea takes off..