Making Shingles

Shakes (wooden shingles) are a roofing product that is typical of the Alpine areas. The raw material used to produce them is spruce. Starting from an around 110-cm long spruce log, the maker splits it into several segments and uses two 10-cm thick outside bands, discarding the core. These segments are then split into shingles on a special bench. The maker uses a shake axe (froe) and a wooden or rubber mallet. The shingles are then tied into bundles and air dried. Peter Kos covers roofs with shakes in Austria and Slovenia, especially church buildings.