A particle size question

[laocmo]

I have used every grade of sand paper made over the years from
refinishing furniture to polishing fiber optic cables. Also have used
jeweler's rouge and a variety of auto polishes and swirl removers to
polish scratches on guitar lacquer. Yet I have never found a source that
tells the actual particle size of the grits I'm using. What do the
numbers on
sand paper mean? 1500 grade is rougher than 2000 grade. But by how much?
I also see references on this group such as...

....... I was even thinking of rubbing some 6000 grit Al2O3 paste into
one leg of an old pair and 11,000 grit black diamond paste ............

Is there any reference that correlates these numbers with actual grit
size? I'd feel more knowledgeable if I could relate to grit size itself
rather than some number scheme that doesn't appear to be standard.

I have some 600 grade paper from Norway that is much rougher than
the 600 grade I buy at the local auto parts store.

Thanks

[Good soldier]

On Sun, 20 Apr 2008 09:42:50 -0400, laocmo <loli...@insight.rr.com>
wrote:

try http://www.sizes.com/tools/sandpaper.htm for a preliminary look at
the specs.

Cheers,

schweik

[Del Cecchi]

I would go to norton abrasives or 3m.com and look around. I bet that
any data you could need is on those sites. It appears that there is an
ANSI standard that is applicable.

ANSI B74.1 -1977 American National Standard Specification for Grading
of Certain Abrasive Grain on Coated Abrasive Products

del

[richar...@craneaerospace.com]

> > I have used every grade of sand paper made over the years ...
...

> > What do the numbers on sand paper mean? 1500 grade is rougher than 2000 grade. But by how much?

...
> > Is there any reference that correlates these numbers with actual grit
> > size? I'd feel more knowledgeable if I could relate to grit size itself
> > rather than some number scheme that doesn't appear to be standard.

These links may partly duplicate each other, but I suspect that they
will contain many seeming contradictions.

When there are too many "standards", confusion is the most likely
outcome.
I would rely on what your fingers and eyes tell you, more than on the
charts.

I thought the Ameritech link was a good place to start.
Note the "international" link: your Norway sandpaper may be using a
different numbering system.

http://users.ameritech.net/knives/grits.htm (start here)
http://www.cs.rochester.edu/u/roche/rec.wood.misc/grit.sizes.html
http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/scales/grit.html
http://www.sisweb.com/micromesh/conversion.htm
http://www.abrasiveengineering.com/gritsize.pdf ("international")
http://www.fepa-abrasives.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?portalname=www.fepa-abrasives.org&language=E&folderindex=0&folderid=3&headingindex=5&headingid=80&tabindex=1&tabid=273
http://www.mediablast.com/grit-size-conversion.asp

By the way - if you make any snese out of this welter of "systems",
please post your discoveries!

I'm still wondering how to relate steel wool grades to sandpaper
grades.

Rick Corey
Cheap in the Pacific NorthWet

[Steve B.]

richar...@craneaerospace.com wrote:
<ship>

>
> I thought the Ameritech link was a good place to start.
> Note the "international" link: your Norway sandpaper may be using a
> different numbering system.
>
> http://users.ameritech.net/knives/grits.htm (start here)
> http://www.cs.rochester.edu/u/roche/rec.wood.misc/grit.sizes.html
> http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/scales/grit.html
> http://www.sisweb.com/micromesh/conversion.htm
> http://www.abrasiveengineering.com/gritsize.pdf ("international")
> http://www.fepa-abrasives.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?portalname=www.fepa-abrasives.org&language=E&folderindex=0&folderid=3&headingindex=5&headingid=80&tabindex=1&tabid=273
> http://www.mediablast.com/grit-size-conversion.asp
>

<snip>

Thanks for the plug for my webpage and for the other useful links.

--
Steve Bottorff
www.sharpeningmadeeasy.com
Remove REMOVE from address when replying