Editing Slate (section)

===Other uses===
Because it is a good [[Insulator (electricity)|electrical insulator]] and fireproof, it was used to construct early-20th-century [[electric switchboard]]s and [[relay]] controls for large [[electric motor]]s.<ref name=bowles1922>{{cite book |last1=Bowles |first1=Oliver |title=The Technology of Slate |date=1922 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9NQi1A_KW5cC}}</ref> Because of its thermal stability and chemical inertness, slate has been used for laboratory bench tops and for [[billiard table]] tops.

Slate was used by earlier cultures as [[whetstone (tool)|whetstone]] to hone knives,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Taylor |first1=William B. |title=Whetstones Found in Southeastern Massachusetts |journal=Bulletin of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society |date=2009 |volume=70 |issue=2 |pages=79–80 |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/160503012.pdf#page=30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210628232253/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/160503012.pdf |archive-date=2021-06-28 |url-status=live |access-date=28 June 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Arbel |first1=Yoav |title=Miscellaneous Finds from the Magen Avraham Compound, Yafo (Jaffa) |year=2020 |journal='Atiqot |volume=100 |pages=363–372 |jstor=26954598}}</ref> but whetstones are nowadays more typically made of quartz.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.popularwoodworking.com/article/what-is-an-oilstone-2 |title=What is an Oilstone? |last=Adam Cherubini |date=12 October 2011 |publisher=Popular Woodworking magazine |access-date=22 February 2017}}</ref> In 18th- and 19th-century schools, slate was extensively used for [[Chalkboard|blackboards]] and individual [[Slate (writing)|writing slates]], for which slate or chalk pencils were used.<ref name="bowles1922" /> In modern homes slate is often used as table coasters.

In areas where it is available, high-quality slate is used for [[tombstones]] and commemorative tablets.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Born |first1=Anne |title=Blue Slate Quarrying in South Devon: An Ancient Industry |journal=Industrial Archaeology Review |date=November 1988 |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=51–67 |doi=10.1179/iar.1988.11.1.51}}</ref> In some cases slate was used by the ancient [[Maya civilization]] to fashion [[Maya stelae|stelae]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Healy |first1=Paul F. |last2=Awe |first2=Jaime J. |last3=Iannone |first3=Gyles |last4=Bill |first4=Cassandra |title=Pacbitun (Belize) and ancient Maya use of slate |journal=Antiquity |date=June 1995 |volume=69 |issue=263 |pages=337–348 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00064735|s2cid=162523022 }}</ref> Slate was the traditional material of choice for black [[Go (game)|Go]] stones in Japan, alongside [[Mollusc shell|clamshell]] for white stones. It is now considered to be a luxury.<ref>{{cite book|last=Fairbairn|first=John|title=The Go Player's Almanac|publisher=Kiseido Publishing Company|year=1992|isbn=978-4-906574-40-7|editor-last=Bozulich|editor-first=Richard|edition=2nd|publication-date=2001|pages=142–155|chapter=A Survey of the best in Go Equipment}}</ref>

Pennsylvania slate is widely used in the manufacture of turkey calls used for hunting turkeys.  The tones produced from the slate, when scratched with various species of wood striker, imitates almost exactly the calls of all four species of [[wild turkey]] in North America: eastern, Rio Grande, Osceola and Merriam's.

<gallery>
File:Betjeman memorial.JPG|[[John Betjeman]]'s grave with inscription on slate in Cornwall
File:Leonard Bramer - Mors Thriumphans.jpg|[[Leonard Bramer]], painting ''Mors Triumphans'' (oil on slate)
File:GoldsworthySlateCone.JPG|"Slate Cone" in [[Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh]]
</gallery>