Tejuela (Chilean Wood Shingle)

A tejuela is a hand-split wooden shingle used in southern Chile and neighbouring parts of Argentina to cover roofs and exterior walls. The word is a diminutive of teja (roof tile). Tejuelas are the characteristic cladding of the wooden churches and houses of the Chiloé archipelago, and are also found across the Aysén region and in Argentine border areas of Río Negro, Chubut, Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego. When used on walls, the cladding is often called tingle in Aysén.

Timber

A study of traditional shingle-making in Aysén by Carlos Castillo Levicoy, published in 2015 in Conserva, the journal of Chile's National Centre for Conservation and Restoration (CNCR), lists the native timbers used: alerce (Fitzroya cupressoides), Guaitecas cypress (Pilgerodendron uviferum), mountain cypress (Austrocedrus chilensis), mañío, canelo, lingue, lenga and coigüe. Alerce was heavily logged in the colonial period for building and export, and UNESCO notes that the fine hardwoods used on Chiloé's heritage churches have become scarce.

Making

Shingles are split rather than sawn, so that they follow the natural grain of the wood. The CNCR study describes Mapuche-Huilliche workers splitting timber by driving hardwood wedges with a mallet along the grain. The arrival of metal nails replaced older rustic fixings and allowed simpler nailed joints.

History and decline

The CNCR study describes shingle-making as one of the most traditional timber trades of southern Chile. It was carried to Aysén by European and Chilean settlers in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the shingled buildings catalogued in the region date from about 1930 to 1995. The author found many of these buildings deteriorating and described the trade as close to extinction.