jess marley
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I was wondering, what did joiners and the like use instead of sand or glass paper before it was invented? Or has it been around for longer than I thought?
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biffvernon
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What an interesting question. First plane the wood smooth and then use a cabinet scraper.
Nemesis
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JOHN WALKER - MAN OF THE MATCH
Considering all the heavy industries for which Stockton is known, it is perhaps surprising that one of Stockton's most widely famed industrial enterprises can be attributed to a humble High Street chemist. His name was John Walker, the inventor of the Friction Match.
Walker's day book for the period 1825 to 1826 shows that he was regularly selling mixtures of combustible materials in the form of separated powders to young men and to a gunsmith from his Chemist and Druggist outlet in the High Street. In 1826 while at his home on the Stockton Quayside experimenting with a mixture of these combustible materials he happened to scrape the mixing stick against his hearth which caused the stick to catch fire.
Walker's scientific mind was quick to realise that the substance used in this way could have a number of potential applications and he appears to have handed out bundles of matchsticks dipped in the substance to various people in Stockton. Walker seems to have perfected the mixture consisting of specific portions of Potassium Chlorate and Antimony Sulphide as he put the substance on sale in April 1827 in the form of friction matches. They came supplied with a piece of folded sandpaper for scraping against. The price was a shilling plus 2d extra for the tin. The sandpaper was supplied free.
A Stockton solicitor by the name of Mr Hixon was the first buyer, purchasing a tin box containing one hundred. The day book records the sale of what Walker described as Sulphurata Hyper-Oxygenata Frict though at a later stage he renamed his invention `Friction Lights'. Walker's first matches were made of paste board which was later replaced with three inch wood splints cut by elderly people in the neighbourhood who were generously paid by the chemist.
In 1830 Walker was visited by Michael Faraday who is thought to have encouraged Walker to patent his invention. Sadly Walker seemed to have no interest in developing a wider market for his development and in 1830 his idea was taken on board by a Londoner called Samuel Johnson who patented the friction lights as Friction Matches. Johnson termed the matches Lucifers, which is perhaps appropriate because he was a bit of a devil for taking all the credit for the invention of a Stockton man.
Thomas Sheraton, the furniture maker and designer is another of Stockton's famous sons. He was born in the town in 1751 where he learned his trade before moving to London. Sheraton's work did not become fully appreciated until after his death in 1806, so unfortunately he died in poverty.
From http://www.thenortheast.fsnet.co.uk/Stockton.htm
So it looks as though it has been around for a while...
Actually this is ringing bells with me, I'm sure I've found info on thi in the past...
It's the sort of query the Industrial Archaeology mailing list is useful for.
Considering all the heavy industries for which Stockton is known, it is perhaps surprising that one of Stockton's most widely famed industrial enterprises can be attributed to a humble High Street chemist. His name was John Walker, the inventor of the Friction Match.
Walker's day book for the period 1825 to 1826 shows that he was regularly selling mixtures of combustible materials in the form of separated powders to young men and to a gunsmith from his Chemist and Druggist outlet in the High Street. In 1826 while at his home on the Stockton Quayside experimenting with a mixture of these combustible materials he happened to scrape the mixing stick against his hearth which caused the stick to catch fire.
Walker's scientific mind was quick to realise that the substance used in this way could have a number of potential applications and he appears to have handed out bundles of matchsticks dipped in the substance to various people in Stockton. Walker seems to have perfected the mixture consisting of specific portions of Potassium Chlorate and Antimony Sulphide as he put the substance on sale in April 1827 in the form of friction matches. They came supplied with a piece of folded sandpaper for scraping against. The price was a shilling plus 2d extra for the tin. The sandpaper was supplied free.
A Stockton solicitor by the name of Mr Hixon was the first buyer, purchasing a tin box containing one hundred. The day book records the sale of what Walker described as Sulphurata Hyper-Oxygenata Frict though at a later stage he renamed his invention `Friction Lights'. Walker's first matches were made of paste board which was later replaced with three inch wood splints cut by elderly people in the neighbourhood who were generously paid by the chemist.
In 1830 Walker was visited by Michael Faraday who is thought to have encouraged Walker to patent his invention. Sadly Walker seemed to have no interest in developing a wider market for his development and in 1830 his idea was taken on board by a Londoner called Samuel Johnson who patented the friction lights as Friction Matches. Johnson termed the matches Lucifers, which is perhaps appropriate because he was a bit of a devil for taking all the credit for the invention of a Stockton man.
Thomas Sheraton, the furniture maker and designer is another of Stockton's famous sons. He was born in the town in 1751 where he learned his trade before moving to London. Sheraton's work did not become fully appreciated until after his death in 1806, so unfortunately he died in poverty.
From http://www.thenortheast.fsnet.co.uk/Stockton.htm
So it looks as though it has been around for a while...
Actually this is ringing bells with me, I'm sure I've found info on thi in the past...
It's the sort of query the Industrial Archaeology mailing list is useful for.
jess marley
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Thanks both, I suppose gesso had a role in in smoothing things over too as most surfaces were painted initially anyway.
Biff- Pardon my ignorance, but could you describe a cabinet scraper? Is it as sharp as a plane? Or more like a burnishing tool?
Biff- Pardon my ignorance, but could you describe a cabinet scraper? Is it as sharp as a plane? Or more like a burnishing tool?
biffvernon
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These fromAxminsterare good. It's just a flat piec of tool steel with a very square edge upon which you add a burr with one of these:
Scraper burnisher
bournonite
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I cant speak for joiners, but as a mineralogist amongs other things, I do know that stone and gems were worked by the ancients using a variety of sands and crushed ores, including things like malachite and cassiterite (the ore of tin) to polish and shape them. I wouldnt be surprised if carpenters used sand to smooth things in the same way....
Penners
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A cabinet scraper will give you a better surface for finishing than sandpaper (although it does need a bit more skill and care than sandpaper).biffvernon said:
The scraper has a tendency to "shut down" the grain of the wood, while sandpaper raises very fine surface fibres, called "nib". So after sanding, your first coat of any paint or lacquer type of finish will need to be rubbed down with fine sandpaper to "denib" it.
jess marley
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I really am lost for words... scrapers look n i c e.
Will try to sleep now, and not come up with any more ponderables.
Thanks again.
Will try to sleep now, and not come up with any more ponderables.
Thanks again.
CHRIS
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You can use Ski wax scrapers from Swix or Toko, they have diffrent radius corners which are useful and cost about a fiver.
biffvernon
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How about this for a prehistoric idea:
1)......Gather suplly of old bottles.
2)......Crack botlle to create many shapes of sherds
3) .....Select the appropriate sherd , keep on scraping the pre-rasped or planed wood.
4)...... If a mirror finish is required keep on changing to new sherds by breaking more bottles if necessary.
This used to be my grandfather's winter past time as he used to make yokes for plough pulling and shotgun stocks. His only source of income.
A reasonable amount of clean cotton bandages is also a necessity if your budget does not stretch as far as gloves and first aid plasters.
1)......Gather suplly of old bottles.
2)......Crack botlle to create many shapes of sherds
3) .....Select the appropriate sherd , keep on scraping the pre-rasped or planed wood.
4)...... If a mirror finish is required keep on changing to new sherds by breaking more bottles if necessary.
This used to be my grandfather's winter past time as he used to make yokes for plough pulling and shotgun stocks. His only source of income.
A reasonable amount of clean cotton bandages is also a necessity if your budget does not stretch as far as gloves and first aid plasters.
Penners
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But how on earth am I going to get hold of all those empty bottles?! :wink:
A off the cuff advert on this site will provide you with an everlasting supply of empty bottles, if the authors content of some of the treads is anything to go by.
I,ve got the odd empty bottle of plonk here and there. You will have to pay for my wife's emptys ,she prefers champagne.
I,ve got the odd empty bottle of plonk here and there. You will have to pay for my wife's emptys ,she prefers champagne.
I believe that dogfish/shark skin was once used instead of sandpaper - the scales are very hard and jagged and work similarly. I actually tried it once on a piece of wood and it worked pretty well. It was used for finishing rather than heavy rubbing down. It was also used decoratively (with the scales removed and often dyed) on all sorts of surfaces as shagreen.
Penners
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Well, thank goodness! At last there's a practical use for that old shark I've got lying around in the cupboard.
Shark skin might be a really good idea for final finishing. I believe it only abrades in one direction, so if you use it the right way, there would be little risk of raising a nap in the wood, which can be a problem with sandpaper. No doubt some innovative manufacturer will make a mint out of an artificial version.
biffvernon
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I think the artificial version is called 'sandpaper'. There's a lot more sand on the beach than sharks in the sea.
thiambal
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Our carpenter just uses the edge of wide paring chisel as a scraper - cuts down on the number tools you need to carry around
bournonite
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Gawd
I used to dodge them by the dozen in my penniless days of diving off the Western Australian coast - wish I'd have known there would be a ready market for the skins in good old heritage mad blighty...!
Pete
I used to dodge them by the dozen in my penniless days of diving off the Western Australian coast - wish I'd have known there would be a ready market for the skins in good old heritage mad blighty...!
Pete
Penners
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I believe shark is on the list of things you can't pack in your hand baggage nowadays. So better that you didn't try to bring any home, rather than having to bin them at the airport.