Natural sandpaper?

[Wilderbeast]

Possibly a stupid question but does anyone know of anything that you can find in the woods that works like sandpaper? I think I remember Ray using some when he did that program making a stone age bow but I can't remember what it was!

P.S dose anyone know why my profile pic and signature aren't showing up? SOLVED!

 

[SimonM]

I think he used a piece of leather and some sand stone grit / dust in the pisode you are referring to.

HTH

Simon

 

[Tadpole]

Back in the olden days a damp bit of leather and a handful of sand was used as sandpaper, but saying that it depends on the finish you want, all the top "cabinet made" pieces (ie made by a cabinetmaker) were mostly finished with a sharp flat bit of steel called a 'cabinet scraper'; sand(glass)paper was for rough finishes or for things that would eventually be painted.
Wagon wrights would use a leather cloth and sandstone of varying degrees of sharpness (sandstone and leather being what Ray used to sand down the arrows and (borrowed by the bower) the bow in the programme to which you refer

 

[Wayland]

I've used leather and sand before now on living history projects.

Shark or dogfish skin is good too but not much of it around in the woods I guess.

 

[DoctorSpoon]

Not that I'm a fan of such things but there's a common plant called Field Horsetail which can be used as an abrasive - it is naturally full of silicates.
Nicola

 

[Tadpole]

Not that I'm a fan of such things but there's a common plant called Field Horsetail which can be used as an abrasive - it is naturally full of silicates.
Nicola

I was told on a plant walk the Moot that it is also known as Pewterwort for that same reason

 

[Wayland]

I'd forgotten that one, it was also used by armorers to polish metal

 

[robin wood]

I have never used horsetail but folks that have tell me you want it neither green nor dry but in between. Japanese turners use it as a finish and it is equivalent to about 600 grit emery paper so its more of a finish polish than coarse remover of wood.

 

[DoctorSpoon]

Japanese turners use it as a finish and it is equivalent to about 600 grit emery paper so its more of a finish polish than coarse remover of wood.

In Japan they also traditionally use pieces of charcoal as abrasives to polish metal, with charcoal from different woods equivalent to different grits. One of the guys I share a research room with is experimenting with some that he had sent over from Japan at the moment. One was magnolia, but we couldn't find an English name for the other.