# Self Sufficiency/Living off the Land or Off the Grid > Making Stuff > How-to Tutorials Only >  Wilderness Sandpaper

## Nativedude

I thought I had posted about this before, but I guess I haven't. So, here is my recipe for making wilderness sandpaper.

I take a piece of scrap tanned caribou hide (deer or elk or other hide will work too) about 4"x4" (you can use a bigger piece of hide, but I find the 4"x4" is the best size). Once I have the hide I collect some sand from surrounding streams and rivers. There's various coarse grades of sand around me, so I gather these various sands and keep them in jars labeled *"Fine" "Medium" "Coarse"*.

Next, I mix-up some deer dung, wood ash, sinew and pine pitch glue. This type of glue works very well for all types of adhesion, and it makes my wilderness sandpaper last the longest. (deer dung is a generic term I use.*) I take 4 parts pitch, and 1 part of each of the other ingredients. I bring the pitch to a boil in a can of water. Once the pitch is softened I add each of the other ingredients, one at a time and mix them thoroughly before adding the next ingredient. Once all ingredients are mixed, and the glue is the consistency of honey, it is ready to use.

_*Elk, caribou, mulie, or any other "grass" eating herbivore dung can be used to make a good glue. The dung acts as a binder and makes the glue much stronger, as does the sinew, and wood ash._

Next, I take a stick, dip it in the glue and coat one side of the hide. I then dip the glued hide into my fine, or medium, or coarse sand.

Now with the hide ready to sand, I can either use it as a profile sanding cloth, or I can wrap it around a block of wood and I have a wilderness sanding block.

Give it a try! It's cheap, easy to make, and lasts every bit as long, or longer, as commercially made sandpaper.

Oh, BTW, you can re-use the hide after the sand wears off to make a new piece.

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## hunter63

Well, thats a different idea that would have never thought of.
Good job, good to know.
Thanks

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## crashdive123

That sound like a cool idea.

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## your_comforting_company

have you tried this with rawhide? sounds like a great idea to try with some scraps. thanks for sharing the glue recipe and tute!!

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## rwc1969

great idea! Thanks!

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## hunter63

ND, any historical reference for glue-on abrasives?
I have used wet sand as a cleaner for the knees of my buckskins.
Kneeling around the fire pit and other chores seem to blacken up the knees pretty good.

As a couple of Rendezvous are held on the banks of major rivers and in hot weather, it was kinda customery to wade in the river wash/scrub the skins with sand, then wear dry.

Have also used wet sand and block as sort of a sanding block for wood.

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## Nativedude

> your_comforting_company wrote: *"have you tried this with rawhide? sounds like a great idea to try with some scraps. thanks for sharing the glue recipe and tute!!"*


No I haven't tried rawhide. To my thinking it would be too stiff to be usable?! And you're welcome about the glue. This glue works well for other things as well.




> hunter63 wrote: *"ND, any historical reference for glue-on abrasives? . . . ."*


No historical reference. It happened quite by accident actually. One day, a couple of years ago, I was gluing some pieces of hide together; I dropped a piece with glue on it in the sand. When I picked it up, it had sand all over it. As I attempted to brush it off it felt like running my hand across sandpaper. So I took a piece of wood and sanded a small section of it. It made the surface quite smooth; born was my first piece of "wilderness sandpaper"!  :Smile:

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## hunter63

Well done, and thanks

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## Ted

Dude, you are so fricken cool!  Thanks for the info!

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## Nativedude

Thanks to Ted, and everyone else, I appreciate the kudos!  :Wink:

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## hunter63

FYI
I am reading People of the Thunder, by W.Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear, right now.
Referenced the sanding of a "Chunky" lance using wet sand and a piece of old leather.

Not glued, though.

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## Nativedude

> hunter63 wrote: *"FYI. . .I am reading People of the Thunder, by W.Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear, right now.
> Referenced the sanding of a "Chunky" lance using wet sand and a piece of old leather. . .Not glued, though."*


You can do it that way, but the sand falls away very quickly. I have used this method for sanding the legs on some stools I made, was very frustrating!

Once I discovered gluing the sand to the hide it worked very well and lasted a long time.

There is a lot of silica in the sand around me and it works great for sanding. Makes the wood very smooth for finishing.

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## hybrid

Very nice idea, thanks for sharing!

In Australia, people used to (some still do) use shark and stingray skins for fine sanding, also the leaves of the Creek Sandpaper Fig either with or without added fine sand, or coarse ash for smoothing.

That and a LOT of scraping and stone or bone burnishing.

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## Alaskan Survivalist

I just use the nearest rock. If I need a coarser one I just break open a piece of quartz.

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## klickitat

I know this is a little late, but thank you for sharing. That is a great tip!

This thread brought back something I remember from a story years ago. I can not remember if it was a movie or a book.

The story goes that this guy got tore up by a grizzly. Some Indians found him and he had to have his leg amputated.  The Indians took a leather thong and soaked it in his blood and then coated it with sand. When the blood was dry they used the thong coated in sand to cut through his leg bone.

Now I bring this up because it is similar and I was wondering if blood would glue sand too and how well the thong would work for shaping stone, metal or just details on wood.

What do you guys think and does anyone else recognize the story?

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## rwc1969

That story seems way far out there. I don't think blood will glue any better than elmer's glue would.

surely not enough to hold up to extreme pressure, heat, etc.

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## Rick

I agree. They had been cutting through bone with knapped rock for a long time, I"m sure. Now, about that thong.

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## Ole WV Coot

Sounds like a solution for " Northern Toilet Paper ", maybe a little softer.

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