Can You Break a Slate Tile to Make Mosaic Pieces?

Slate Layers

• Slate is a sedentary stone that is built up in layers. What this means is that the stone has a natural tendency to "sheer" off, or separate in layers, rather than break up into smaller pieces of the same-thickness tile. Merely hitting the stone with a hammer is not sufficient to break it into mosaic pieces as it will sheer off before it breaks into small chunks.

Hammer and Chisel

• The thickest types of slate can be broken up into chunks using a hammer and cold chisel. Choose the part of the stone you want to break off, and score it lightly with the chisel by tapping it with the hammer. After you have scored an entire line across the face, you can attempt to "snap" the piece in half by sharply hitting the stone against the ground on one corner so it snaps along the chiseled line, or you can simply use the hammer and chisel to fracture the stone into smaller pieces.

Towel and Mallet

• A tried-and-true method for breaking slate up into smaller sections of stone is to wrap a piece of slate in an old, thick towel, and then rap it sharply with a rubber mallet in the same place until the stone breaks. You can also use a hammer for thicker stones. The towel will help soften the blow and keep the stone from sheering off instead breaking into smaller chunks.

Gravity

• If you want to go for natural break points, you can find a section of rocky ground, asphalt or even other pieces of slate, and simply hurl the slate at the hard surface and let the pieces fall where they may. Unfortunately this can create small, unusable chunks in comparison to the other methods, so you should only use gravity if you are looking for small pieces to fill in gaps.