Thread: A theoretical discussion about honing particles

Originally Posted by blaireau

There are standard ways to relate Grit, Mesh and Particle Size. Please see the table below, it's just that simple. Bart, please don't burn up your slide rule on this one, it has all been worked out! Enjoy gents.

Originally Posted by blaireau

I posted a conversion table of American grit, Mesh and Particle size earlier in this thread. The mesh numbers are the range of particle sizes in microns since meshes at these small sizes don't exist. Mesh is a theoretical calculated number not a screen since as I said, meshes of this size don't exist. So, an 8000 grit has a mesh or range of particle sizes form 2 to 4 microns and an average particle size of 3 microns. Above 400 grit, particles are not seperated by actual meshes but by other processes which are mostly of interest to mechanical engineers involved in grinding technology.

So in my browsing for stones I've noticed that all the ones I've looked at list the specs for a stone in both grit and microns. Actually I got the impression that maybe the grit was more of a "name" for a loose comparison. For example:

Shapton (glass) 8000: 1.84u
Norton (water) 8000: 3u

This is a significant difference in particle size right?

I guess there is a followup question. The table you provided had a label at the top "American Standard (Grit)".
How "standard" is the American Standard? Is it one of those standards you can go to an independent certification company to get your product certified?
And then, are all/most hone companies using that standard? Internationally?