I’ve used a screwdriver or the section on a half round/round file near the handle where the steel is still very hard. Saw blade steel is good, but tends to be a little bit softer than super hard scrapers as made by LN and Clifton which is where the carbide burnisher is so good.
Sandpaper did exist in the ‘good old days’, it’s just that it wasn’t very clever; Mr.C’s cabinet makers may have use an abrasive medium made from sharks skin! Also, some work is almost impossible to make without sanding, for example Hans Wegner’s ‘The Chair’…
…first produced, believe it or not in 1949 (if memory serves) and still my favourite seat, especially this cane version and it’s still in production today. The smooth flowing contours would be virtually impossible to produce without recourse to sanding, so it does have it’s legitimate place in the wood-mangler’s arsenal.
