Standards of sanding grits.

Howsit Guys and Gals,

So last night I start re-polishing my razor tang after I did a horrible job at it the first time, and I noticed that some of my normal sanding paper has different grits on it. Now I do realize the higher the grit the finer the paper, but is there a difference in lets say 220 and P220. Also, Maxi was kind enough to set me up with some Micro-Mesh, considering we don't have it in Africa, but because I hadn't touched it in quite a while, I guess humidity caused it to come loose from the fabric backing. So I Google-ed Micro Mesh and saw on Stewmac that there are different typed of Micro-Mesh, namely regular, AX, and MX. Do these differences have different standards in grid, meaning is a 1200 grit AX comparable to a 4000 grit regular?

Thanks for any insight on this.

Kind Regards

The 'P' is a European (ISO) standard. The other is the American (CAMI) standard. The lower grits - 220 and under - are more or less the same in both ranges, but the similarity begins to drift in the mid and high grit ranges - see this table.

Regards,
Neil

Hi Neil, thanks for the info. It actually makes sense at to why I had the little 'ghost' lines after the first attempts at restoring. There is such a huge distance bewtedn European and American fine grits, that in American terms, I had jumped from 800 to 1500 grit. This time J am applying a bit more elbow grease, and I lighten the pressure as I finish up with a grit, to simulate a gradual decrease in particle size. I hope it pays off this time.

It's not only the grits, what type of grinding powder and its backing can make a big difference.
Micro-Mesh is damn good but sometimes a little strange, they are not good for removing lots of material like other abrasive papers do.
But if you use them in order and keep everything clean they seem to beat everything else out there!