The Village Carpenter's First Aid

There's some fairly dubious first aid advice circulating on the web, not least among woodworkers, with all manner of glues and tapes apparently being pressed into service when disaster strikes. A traditional herbal remedy used to treat workshop wounds is a plaster made from the root of Common Comfrey Symphytum officinale. Walter Rose describes it in The Village Carpenter recalling when, as a boy, he skinned his fingers during an accident with the lathe.
Just like Walter, we have comfrey growing outside the workshop and the last time I suffered a grazed finger I recorded the process of preparing the plaster. Moving clockwise from the typical bell-shaped flowers, above, we come to the all important roots which have a black covering. Peel this with a knife then pulverize the root tissue which is applied directly to the cleaned wound. After a while it sets like plaster, and sticks well, so you can carry on working and there are no irksome bandages or tapes to get in the way. The effective ingredient is allantoin which promotes the growth of skin tissue.
Historically comfrey root has been used to treat broken limbs, because it makes a plaster cast, and even recently it has been used for major wounds such as a gash inflicted by a chainsaw.