Thread: Abrasive Grit Comparison Sheet

I have spent a fair few years trying to compile a list of grit comparisons for my own uses: shaping, smoothing and polishing rocks, metals, plastics and wood; and sharpening everything from milling bits and lathe cutters to planes, knives and razors.

I have taken GREAT pains to make sure that any information listed has it's validity backed up by as reliable a reference as is possible, typically by a major manufacturer with reliable reputation, since the standardization entities themselves are decidedly loose in their determinations of compliance. I know there will be a few of the less reliable manufacturers that will use slightly different tolerances, but when dealing with those companies, you can expect a bit less accuracy since the cheaper price you pay does not cover reliable quality control.


Recently Olivia forwarded a list to me that had some very good information and I was able to track it back to one of it's points of origin and have added some excellent tolerance info relating to the FEPA grit ratings that I had not been able to find without her help......Thank you Olivia!



If you have something to add or find a discrepancy in the provided information, PLEASE let me know so that I can correct it as soon as possible and prevent the dissemination of inaccurate information.....We ALL know that there is ENTIRELY TOO MUCH wrong information being passed off as correct. Personally I am a close tolerance kinda guy and find few things more infuriating than laboring under the assumption that you are doing things correctly only to find out later that your time has been wasted due to bad information.


Now that my rant is done, I hope everyone finds this information useful.

Feel FREE to post this on any other forum or pass it around as you see fit so long as no money changes hands.....Information Should Be FREE!

So glad it was useful!
... and I must admit that I already posted it elsewhere *shrugs* LOL

If I run into some more, i'm going to send it to you.

Smokinbird,

I hope you don't mind, but I just posted your chart over on the Knife Forums in one of my threads. Perfect timing.

Great Job!!!!

Originally Posted by jendeindustries

Smokinbird,

I hope you don't mind, but I just posted your chart over on the Knife Forums in one of my threads. Perfect timing.

Great Job!!!!

Absolutely perfect!

I intend to post it on a couple other forums as well.....I have seen lots of partial comparisons, but I have never seen any references to back them up, and I just don't trust everything I read.

Thanks for this, man. I'm curious, where did you get the Shapton info? I emailed them asking for the micron info and never got an answer.

Speaking of which, does anyone have any idea about the Naniwa micron sizes? I called them and the rep I spoke to said he didn't have any idea about the microns, and was surprisingly unhelpful--he didn't offer any ideas how to get the information at all. This is very strange in Japan. Customer service is typically amazingly helpful...what's up with these hone companies???

Originally Posted by JimR

Thanks for this, man. I'm curious, where did you get the Shapton info? I emailed them asking for the micron info and never got an answer.

Speaking of which, does anyone have any idea about the Naniwa micron sizes? I called them and the rep I spoke to said he didn't have any idea about the microns, and was surprisingly unhelpful--he didn't offer any ideas how to get the information at all. This is very strange in Japan. Customer service is typically amazingly helpful...what's up with these hone companies???

I had a friend that speaks Japanese call them at 0285-72-7755 after I had the Glass stone info from their web site.

Since this was word of mouth and not a written and published table, I would be thrilled if anyone can correct me if they lay their hands on something in writing from Shapton.

I just emailed Naniwa to see if I can get anything useful from them.....we'll see.

I suppose the back of my GlassStones counts as
`in-writing'...

1000 mesh - 14.7 micron
2000 mesh - 7.35 micron
4000 mesh - 3.68 micron
8000 mesh - 1.84 micron
16000 mesh - 0.92 micron
30000 mesh - 0.49 micron

- Scott

This is slightly tangential, but I've found since using
the Shapton stones that the 4k is too fine to do what
I would consider minor sharpening. I've had to drop
down to the 2k on new razors a lot, and the grit
comparison to the Norton 4k sheds some light on
this.

Thanks!

- Scott

Originally Posted by sebell

This is slightly tangential, but I've found since using
the Shapton stones that the 4k is too fine to do what
I would consider minor sharpening. I've had to drop
down to the 2k on new razors a lot, and the grit
comparison to the Norton 4k sheds some light on
this.

Thanks!

- Scott

I've come to the same conclusion with the Shapton Pro and couldn't figure out why until Smokintbird posted the grit comparison chart.

OK let me see if I have this correct here,,,,

My GS 8k is a way higher grit then my Norton 8k????

My GS 4k is too high a grit to sharpen a razor I have to drop to my GS 2k????

My Norton 8k is almost the same as shaving off my GS 4k????

Did I sum that up correctly????

OK unfortunately this GS is calling BS at this point in time...

oh wait I found the line I was looking for in the small print....

It is impossible to make

exact comparisons between all the different abrasives because different standards are used for average, minimum and maximum size, the percentage allowed outside

those limits, and the distribution of sizes within those limits, but this list is the closest comparison available since all entries are compared to microns by their respective manufacturers.


Don't forget the how does it feel factor here, Shaving is what really separates the men from the boys so to speak when it come to honing..
This also does not take into account the tricks of the trade...

I am really just having a very hard time swallowing that a Norton 8k is closer to a GS 4k then a GS 8k
I guess I am going to have to try a shave off the GS 4k... I will post back soonest....if it shaves anywhere near as good as a Norton 8k I will stand corrected....