There I was using my trusty belt sander wondering, just who came up with this great idea of gluing sand to paper to smooth wood? I mean think about it, it’s so simple, yet so complex. Okay it’s easy, glue sand to paper and rub it on wood. Smoothes it right nicely. But real sand on real paper, well that just doesn’t last, or actually work that well. So then what is sandpaper, and why do we call it that?

I like to think that someone was walking along the beach, got some tree sap, or tar on their feet, and collected lots of sand in the goo. As they were walking they noticed how smooth their rought feet were getting. Hmmm… Or maybe they noticed a log half submerged along a sandy shore where the water kept washing sand over it. They pulled it out and noticed that the wood was quite smooth. Hmmm… Perhaps it was that simple, we may never know. But we do know that the Chinese had glued sand and crushed shells to parchment paper as early as the thirteenth century. (Ironic, because the Chinese probably manufacture more sandpaper than anyone else now, thanks to globalization.)  As early as 1769 one could buy sandpaper in the markets of Paris. In the United Sates the first patent for a machine that made sandpaper was issued in 1835. So one can see where the name comes from, and it certainly sounds better than calling coated abrasive cloth, which is a more accurate description of what we use today. I challenge anyone to walk in to any hardware store, including Orchards Ace Hardware, and ask a clerk where there coated abrasive cloth is. I’ll bet you get blank stares!

Common materials used today to make abrasive cloth are flint, garnet, silicon carbide and aluminum oxide. These materials are bonded to a cloth backing that is more flexible and lasts longer than paper. These materials are specialized today for sanding a wide variety of rough surfaces from wood, to metal, fiberglass, resins and the like.

Of course there are many grits of sandpaper to choose from. We sell from about 30 grit to 1500, off the top of my head. That’s like saying we sell paper that feels like rocks to paper that feels only slightly rougher than typing paper. (For you younger people, it used to be common to actually buy paper designated just for a machine we called a typewriter. Long before we all carried our laptops around to type on the internet with!)

So that’s a bit on the abrasive side, but I hope it all goes with the grain, and smoothes things out for you! Thanks to Vince Staten and Did Monkeys Invent the Monkey Wrench once again.

-Clark