Thread: A theoretical discussion about honing particles

Originally Posted by Wildtim

Bart, you are a little confused.

What you are calling grit count is actually known as mesh size.

The mesh is a sifter used to size the cutting particles found in hones and on sandpaper. The number references the number of holes per square inch in the mesh. In the industry I'm sure there is a standard size wire used to weave the mesh out of as well. once you have your sifted medium you then incorporate it with a matrix material giving you the components of a man made hone. While particle shape does effect the aggressiveness of a hone, its speed is also very much a factor of the proportion of cutting medium to matrix in the particular hone you are using. Thats why a Norton is faster than a Sun Tiger hone, they probably use exactly the same medium just in far different proportions.

I am confused about the mesh that the particles are sifted through. If you, for example, were to us a mesh that has 300 holes squared per inch then when you sifted the particles you would get everything smaller than the 300 holes per inch mesh. It would seem to me that one would have to resift using say 305 holes per inch to sift out the smaller particles. From a quality control standpoint one could then say that I have a bag of particles that had a size that was between 300 and 305. No?


Thanks,
Richard