How Wood Roof Tiles are made by Hand in the U.K. (Shakes, Shingle Making)

Join me as we look at an incredible wood tile roof bushcraft shelter built by hand by my friend Ben. He shows you how to make wood roof tiles (shingles or shakes) using a few basic hand tools such as an axe and a froe. He also talks about how to lay roof tiles so that you don't get any water leaking from rain coming through.
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[@TAOutdoors]

Watch every episode of the Woodland Life series here: kzbin.info/aero/PLxnadpeGdTxCwRkZTLMhjbT_EAu6bAIZy

[@pawsnazzy01]

As a kid I spent the summers with my Aunt & Uncle in Oregon. And on my 13th summer I got the pleasure of splitting Western Red Cedar Shakes to reroof his home. A loud rumble was heard coming down the road and a huge logging truck turned into the yard and the driver rolled two logs off the load and after he left my Uncle showed me how to make the shakes and how to stack them so they got the proper air flow between them to dry as the temp was around 100 every day and hot at night so they dried quickly. I spent several days splitting them about 3 weeks after I finished on Saturday morning there were about 10 of his friends there waiting outside and my job was to keep everyone supplied with shakes, I wore a backpack that would hold a bunch of them and all day long it was up and down that ladder passing out the shakes. I think I fell asleep before dinner...it was a long day.

[@jamesellsworth9673]

BEN strikes me as a close family member of yours. He certainly has paved the way for outdoor living! This has been a fine tutorial for us!

[@CleoHarperReturns]

This was great, Mike! I love in-depth learning like this. Thank you and thank Ben for me as well. Two excellent teachers.

[@TAOutdoors]

Thanks!

[@lifeoftreedom]

How aptly timed - I'm planning on building a thing in a woodland that will use shingles!

[@johnnygogo6032]

In Finland and I assume in Scandinavia too it's normal to use tar to protect the shingles. Same stuff they used on ships and ropes back in the day. Some old churches and such are still roofed that way to keep them true to the originals. Smells awesome.

[@BearTheManPk]

ah the smell of a stavkirke is the best

[@D-B-Cooper]

Most people don’t realize that when you say tar it is referring to tree pitch and not bitumen tar.

[@TheLarsPlay]

To make tar, you try to find dead pines, aspecially dead trunks and roots. When a pine dies it sometimes concentrate sap into the wood. You extract the sap as tar by heating the wood up without making the fire connect with it or the gasses it produces, since tar and the gasses are really flameable. As it heats, it slowely pours out of the wood as a black very slimy liquid, like a really thick paint. This is super water resistant and absorbs somewhat into the wood you use it on. Makes wooden houses and roofs last for ages.

[@johnwalker7592]

@@D-B-Cooper bitumen tar has been known and used for thousands of years. to say it wasn't ever used on something like a roof- is silly.

[@D-B-Cooper]

@@johnwalker7592 this is about Scandinavia and there are no tar pits there. Stockholm tar has been famous for thousands of years and that is what was used on sailing ships. I once watched someone repair his traditional gondola in Venice with it. The EU has banned the making of it because of carcinogens and pollution from making it as it is a byproduct of charcoal manufacturing. You have to make your own now. I am a retired shipwright. Moron.

[@yvonnebailey9973]

Great video again Mike, I love the dedication and work ethic you both have. It must take many hours to create the shingle tiles. Thank you for sharing. Best wishes.

[@bencollyer2296]

Yes mate ya Neighbor Ben knows his woods skills. Side axe and a throw

[@Anomalous-Plant]

Aspen, pine, spruce and oak all work beautifully for this as well

[@ARDG89]

this is very high quality cinematography. You're really good man.

[@TAOutdoors]

Cheers! I appreciate it.

[@troopygino]

Very good stuff! That guy is a good teacher fairplay.

[@grahammctygue724]

Great lesson in reading that grain similar to mauling good to know Peace to you n your family

[@glennwilck5459]

Dont be afraid of using your humanure! Ive been using a compost toilet for about 8 years and as long as you compost it long enough and let it turn into nice rich dirt its great for growing vegetables in the garden! Humanure handbook is the book i read that got me on thos pathway.

[@TonyM540]

Fantastic natural looking out house and great to see these skills being kept alive.

[@mattbrown5511]

Using a farm tractor jack and an attachment point for the splitting blade would help make that job less taxing on the body. But great information you and Ben shared. Thank you very much.

[@મહંમદમુલ્લા]

Nice collaboration. I learnt a lot from this.

[@TAOutdoors]

Thanks! More to come

[@મહંમદમુલ્લા]

@TA Outdoors I'm looking forward to it. Ben seems the type to have gained his knowledge through past experience. This form of experience and knowledge I find most beneficial because it's based on tried and tested methods on getting the job done most effectively.

[@bilalkurdish.berlin5237]

Super beautiful

[@Pygar2]

One of the first six Foxfire books covers riving shingles.

[@turinhorse]

8:02 great idea

[@Tumshiz]

to think the number of guys n gals in here, that would benefit me myself included, from just spending a day with folk like yourselves

[@rubenskiii]

The great thing with wood is that no matter how hard you mess up, _you can always use it to stay warm..._

[@paullambert4445]

Thanks again Mike.🔪🎸

[@ArielleViking]

Great explanation and really brilliant watching how to make roof shingles. That clamp idea was really neat. 👍

[@sosteve9113]

Nicely done

[@ddoherty5956]

Most interesting part of the video is 1 nail, I think you could use a longer frow blade so you can drive it a bit deeper? Thanks for the info though👍

[@DaveCollierCamping]

Really neat

[@robreesor5011]

Never would have thought to use ash as a shingle...here in Canada we would use Cedar for any roof and even some exterior walls.

[@TAOutdoors]

Yes, first time I have seen it too. But as Ben says, Ash is really an interior wood. The only reason it is working in this case is because he has put such a steep pitch on his roof. So rainwater does not have a chance to sit and rot the ash away. Cedar is also really popular over here too, but it is all made with machinery.

[@robreesor5011]

@@TAOutdoors yes cedar shingles are made in a shingle mill here...in my early twenties I used to buy loads of firewood from the shingle mill as well as the telephone pole mill for $5 a load and cut/split I sold it for $150 a cord lol made really good money back in those days doing that. Also used to help out hauling what they call cedar shakes to town...was loaded up in 1 cord blocks on a 5 ton truck and delivered to that cedar shake mill...hard work but well worth the pay haha.

[@weslockley6684]

Really fascinating. Your friend is cool as by the way

[@mustangunique3214]

Nice video!! Nice way to show it and cool way to interview. The place looks incredible, so cool! Great job :)

[@Rabbi_Dollarstein]

Impressive👏🏻

[@TAOutdoors]

It sure is!

[@pyeitme508]

Amazing 🤩

[@alansimmonds9030]

That's one high-end, executive dunny.

[@firearmssanctuary2448]

can further weather proof them by charring the outside. also makes them a little fire resistant.

[@civiprepper]

To improve the rot/water durability you can can also lightly char the wood shakes. The Japanese call it the Yakisugi method and vikings also used a similar approach.

[@freakygardener8033]

Awesome video! I WISH I had the energy to do that!!! 👍👍

[@iangregory3719]

Making things in and from the woods is an ancient skill. Is Ben what is known as a "Bodger" or is that another type of woodland craft ?.

[@brainwashingdetergent4128]

Bro has had some explosive shitz out there

[@kennethgorum6519]

Great video, if you haven't done a video on how to make saw horses in the wild I would like to see a how to video

[@ZoonCrypticon]

Very nice! A question, couldn´t you heat and burn the surfaces of the shingles at the open fire, as to prevent future pests infestations of the wood ?

[@johnhenrytweed488]

Would a longer bladed froe make the splitting easier? If it had a couple of inches sticking out the side of the log you could hit it further.

[@johnhenrytweed488]

Or a smaller diameter log ?

[@agriculafamiliar]

Good evening, you speak directly from Brazil, State of Pará, municipality of Almeirim, please answer me, I live in the Brazilian Amazon, I want to build a roof like this in my house on the farm, could you tell me the distances between slats, and the tile size, length?

[@soggybottomgoldprospecting3586]

Where did you get your froe from?

[@rongarrett1366]

Birch beer is similar to root beer.

[@excemptfrombs2124]

For the first 2 minutes I thought you had -had a new haircut phew !

[@chiefredbird7315]

DEFINE AMAZING?

[@stonehold42]

It's called a shingle.

[@Ronin969]

this just confirms my suspicion that the UK was never actually one of the good guys. Tiles are made of clay or ceramic. Shingles are made of wood with a froe.

[@ErinneKennedy]

They are using human sewerage to reclaim desert in Egypt

[@copa1856]

Watched this already on your other channel 😢

[@TAOutdoors]

That was just a highlights video. This is the actual process of how to make the roof tiles.

[@Pabloeskobar6680]

Ben having KZbin channel or something to follow ?

[@TAOutdoors]

He doesn’t at the moment but he has been asked to multiple times I believe.

[@TAOutdoors]

I think he will have a website open soon where you can follow him more on what he does.

[@Pabloeskobar6680]

Thank you very much for answer:)

[@Pabloeskobar6680]

​@@TAOutdoors its his website open ?:)

[@JoshIsFr]

pin

[@ddoherty5956]

You need more fibre in your diet if your using a post whacker to unblock the toilet 🤣

[@thecrew777]

At first I thought you'd done something weird with your hair. Then I realized it wasn't you. Should like it when you're in more talk and frames, but hey, this is okay. Good educationally.

[@udikai7799]

get biogas digester and turn human waste into methane gas then run a generator.

[@steveandjacquie]

I'm Western Canada we use Red Cedar My Dad and I did a roof on his cabin over 40 years ago. Still water proof . The best part was we salvaged the cedar from a logging operation that was 50 years old . The logs had 2 inches of moss on them. They were absolutely sound.

[@escapetherace1943]

cedar is the best. I imagine with non-cedar and heck maybe even softwoods you would have a few to several good years of life on them. Personally I'd paint each shingle with teak oil, probably would make it outlive any of us

[@jaymeswheeler]

You guys are such woodland nerds. And I am too for watching every single video. Plus I like them and subscribe.

[@TAOutdoors]

Thanks! I’ll take it as a compliment 😊

[@alansimmonds9030]

Never heаrd of woodsmen being referred to as nerds before.....'Wood-nerds' perhaps.

[@JamesYoung61]

I have seen several people make roof shingles before but I have never had anybody explain in such detail the ins and outs of the process, another excellent video.

[@TAOutdoors]

Cheers James, glad you enjoyed it.

[@federicoeco9030]

​@@TAOutdoorswhy do you only put 1 nail in each shingle ?

[@smartbort4397]

I love it, your videos are relaxing and i watch all of them together with my mom ❤

[@TAOutdoors]

Thanks! Appreciate it.

[@kingrafa3938]

Ben really knows what he is doing and a very knowledgeable guy.

[@stevebaker9341]

Really interesting and informative! Thoroughly enjoyed watching the process thanks 👍

[@TAOutdoors]

Cheers Steve!

[@timhyatt9185]

The japanese make shingles very similarly, but instead of splitting out whole diameter width ones, they make the first split across the log, then take the half long and split THAT in half, so it's quartered. From there it's successive radial splits, which helps minimize any problems presented by branches. Yes, they're narrower but you get more of them..... (spliting with a froe like this is called "riving") I was shown how to make shingles by my grandfather who showed me using oak or cedar, and was done by the radial rive out method. I found out years later it was actually the japanese technique.. I've always wondered why there are some subtle differences in methods between East and West...Have to wonder if some of it comes from the limited availability of the wood itself.

[@escapetherace1943]

that isn't unique to the japanese, in fact I believe that's how they traditionally made shingles in the west, too. This guy's technique isn't bad but it's not the common way.

[@steveplace1232]

It very much depends on the diameter of the tree chosen. For smaller logs this works fine. The quartering method is also traditional in the UK as well.

[@glorfendell2967]

I worked as a colonial restoration painter in New England for 40 years and always had a deep respect for the craftsmen who built them with no power tools. Seeing Ben do this has really brought the skill and patience needed to reality for me. Thanks for sharing this with us.

[@TAOutdoors]

Ben has a wealth of knowledge on woodlands and woodland craft. He’s a top guy!

[@brain8484]

he used a chainsaw

[@privateerwoodworksnmore]

​​@@brain8484 understand that using a chainsaw properly takes skill n craftsmanship. As well is absolutely part of woodland life. From your comment history I believe you to reside under those stone bridges

[@mikecumbo7531]

and he likely drove a car/SUV to site, used credit cards and probably used a cell phone too.

[@cgamejewels]

I'm glad he explained why he uses only one nail. It's cost and labor effective too.

[@TAOutdoors]

Yeah it’s something that is easily looked over.

[@Richardjdocherty]

Thoroughly enjoy the videos you’ve made with Ben - you’re good at drawing the information out of him in a natural way and he clearly knows what he is talking about

[@savagepro9060]

Anything from the tropics that you recommend, particularly the Caribbean?

[@artwerks]

as a young teen i spent weeks packing cedar blocks out of the bush in bc canada,,then more weeks spliting and trimming shakes for my dad.

[@dLnug]

A lot of the r or shingles shakes are cedar here in the north east of the United States

[@BraxxJuventa]

Thanks for sharing this with us Mike. 👍😁

[@crmsoldier6568]

Hi you dont need to reply or read but i just want to say i love your content and you are so inspirational...keep up the good work

[@TAOutdoors]

Thanks! Really appreciate the kind feedback.

[@seedy-waney-bonnie4906]

Great video, I love it.

[@funkyprepper]

Mike I really enjoyed this. It certainly goes to show the amount of effort required when using natural materials and hand tools. Very important skill share. Thanks for making the video

[@SamsonsLeader]

Hi Mike, really good to meet you briefly this afternoon out with the dogs. Good to see you back in this part of the world. I enjoy these videos - learning from experts and sharing knowledge. As we both know education is so important! ATB Jon

[@bosse641]

Very knowledgeable, Ben.

[@outdoorsbeyondnature1980]

14:31 good traits to learn you are teaching a lot of people bushcraft skills.

[@susiegray8968]

Amazing, I just learned a lot, and the wild flowers are beautiful....

[@sinopaswain]

113th

[@jaymeswheeler]

So cheeky

[@keamations1648]

sixth

[@savagepro9060]

thief, sorry, fifth

[@ArjayMartin]

Try waxing the shingles..

[@natdugdale3625]

Brilliant, such a helpful video for someone thinking of making something similar! Are the topmost shingles just laid on their side?

[@stewartmoore]

That was the best video on the subject I've seen for quite some time. Very very informative in a low key way. Thanks for posting.

[@brain8484]

looks like he pebble dashed his toilet bowl , didnt need to see that.

[@annalorree]

In my portion of the USA (Northern California), we call that a shake roof. We would split them out of Redwood, my dad enlisted my labours as a child to help him trim them. It’s been a few decades since I have pounded a froe with a mallet, now.

[@PatBot]

Thanks for the upload Mike 👍

[@TAOutdoors]

Cheers!

[@williamirelan9332]

I've worked on 100 year old cedar ,but the oldest roof I helped with was 150 year old cypress. My employer had flat tipped nails made because pointed tipped nails spread the fibers of the grain and split the shingles, where as the flat tips punched a clean hole. Now you know how to get flat shingles no more pie wedges like on the pizza oven 😅

[@olalindberg833]

There’s another man with the same first name who’s very skilled and inspiring when it comes to forest management and traditional building, and that’s Ben Law. I guess you may know about him already, but if not maybe you could try and get in contact with him. I believe he’s somewhere in Wales.

[@jvangeld]

Clamp holes, solar powered footlight. That is a deluxe splitting block.

[@vevenaneathna]

rust and boiled linsead oil was commonly used in the american frontier as an antifungal coating/sealant. the linseed oil polymerizes and basically acts as a water repelling epoxy/enamel. the iron oxide /rust was naturally antifungal and stopped the breakdown of wood. thats why the barns were all red in the US... atleast before paint came available

[@dawnconner6123]

also meant to add that when the last folks were doing roofing a couple of years ago they COULD NOT be convinced not to add a tar paper liner under the shingles. i retire almost 20 yrs ago and came to watch it being done. as the wife of a general contractor/stone mason i knew more about it than they did. pi*sed them off that a woman knew more. the last time i saw that done the shingles all curled up and looked just awful. rotted very quickly.

[@CantPickTheNameIwant]

Aspen in Western Ukraine and Belarus, Spruce in the Carpathians, and Cedar in Siberia.

[@claudioruiz4367]

en la patagonia argentina se usan para las tejuelas el alerce hoy prohibido ,pero se encuentran tejuelas de alerce hoy dia,una madera de fibra muy recta muy adecuada para las tejuelas

[@rtoguidver3651]

Herrs potato chip has a Historical site in Willow Street, Pa. and the shingles are Red Oak... Too & Fro !

[@jake7169]

I cannot stand it. Shingles are done in masses, none is perfect, yet you complain as it's end of the world if wood's not perfect. Go look for what bowyers are doing with much worse wood.

[@Druforithe]

That’s so cool! I love watching and learning about traditional crafts.

[@RaindanceBushcraft]

Okay, I loved that.

[@BeepBoop2221]

Can you also make a video on forest management? Replacing trees and wild plants in the woods?

[@TheThomasites]

After making that many shingles, you must have been very Thor.

[@BettySwollocks13]

Minimum 3” lap if it was slate.

[@1clinkerman]

Very good video, thanks from the colonies.

[@YourArmsGone]

Alaskan red or yellow cedar makes great shingles.

[@Masked_One_1316]

22:55🤬😤 got the roll the wrong way round😂😅🤪