Frank J. Wilstach, comp. A Dictionary of Similes. 1916.

Rough

Rough like butter spread over stale bread.
—Anonymous

Rough as the back of a hedgehog.
—J. R. Bartlett’s Dictionary of Americanisms

Rough as hemp.
—Thomas Carlyle

Rough as a Sea Porkypine.
—Charles Dickens

Rough as a storm.
—John Dryden

Rough as bearskins.
—Robert Heath

Rough as nutmeg-graters.
—Aaron Hill

Rough as the winds.
—Thomas Otway

Were she as rough
As are the swelling Adriatic seas.
—William Shakespeare

Rough as a Russian bear.
—John Taylor