Ace Posted October 27, 2003 Report Share Posted October 27, 2003 Heya folks, when you (english speaking ppl in general) talk about sanding paper you mention "grit". Although I know the meaning of the word from the context (how fine or coarse your sandpaper is), I have a question about that: Is the number that you give for "grit" the number of "abrasive grains" (I told you the language barrier was coming) per square millimeter? square centimeter? square inch? Or is it just an industrial standard number? Not being the worlds greatest handyman and thus being inexperienced I walked into the tool shop today and noticed that their sandpapers were classified by "grains per square centimeter". Is that the same grit you're using? I don't want to buy sandpaper by the number and then have the wrong one rip through my body like the hot knife through butter, obviously so long ace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbarstrat Posted October 28, 2003 Report Share Posted October 28, 2003 Hi Ace, I copied this from a website: "When talking about sandpaper "grit" is a reference to the number of abrasive particles per inch of sandpaper. The lower the grit the rougher the sandpaper and conversely, the higher the grit number the smoother the sandpaper. This makes sense if you imagine how small the particles on an 800-grit sandpaper would need to be to fit into a 1" square. Sandpaper is referred to by the size of its grit (i.e. 150-grit sandpaper)." 1 inch = 25.4 millimeter 1 inch = 2.54 centimeter I live in Germany part-time (Frankfurt--not too far from you). I'm not in Germany right now, though. I did quite a lot of house rennovation work while I was there for 6 months this year, and of course, used some sandpaper (mostly used a scraper), but didn't pay attention to what was written on the back of the sandpaper that I bought there, and actually the sanding blocks I used most, were ones I brought from here (USA), but, they have German, cloth-backed sandpaper, made from a company called Klingspor. I bought this German made sandpaper here in the USA, pretty cheap as a "bargain box". Maybe Klingspor also makes sandpaper here in the USA, but I don't know, and I doubt it , because the quality seems too high. It has the same grit sizes printed on the back of the sandpaper as American sandpaper, as far as I can tell. And I don't know, if this same sandpaper was bought in Germany, that it would have the very same numbers printed on it. Now I'm wondering if this sandpaper grading system is international. We have people on this board from all different countries that might be able to answer this. I have just assumed it's the same everywhere. Micro-mesh "sandpaper" has it's own grit grading system, though. Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Bell Posted October 28, 2003 Report Share Posted October 28, 2003 USA and UK grades seem to be the same Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Posted October 28, 2003 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2003 "When talking about sandpaper "grit" is a reference to the number of abrasive particles per inch of sandpaper. The lower the grit the rougher the sandpaper and conversely, the higher the grit number the smoother the sandpaper. This makes sense if you imagine how small the particles on an 800-grit sandpaper would need to be to fit into a 1" square. Sandpaper is referred to by the size of its grit (i.e. 150-grit sandpaper). 1 inch = 25.4 millimeter 1 inch = 2.54 centimeter Yup that's what I thought, too but I am still not 100% sure if it's the same in Germany because we have the metric system, so I figured it would make sense to use a square centimeter as a reference point, meaning that 100 grit metric would equal roughly 654 grit (2,54 ^ 2 x 100). But as of now I've found some German online shops that have sanding paper up to 800 grit and more. It was only because the tool store I was in (Hela, if that rings a bell Soapbar) didn't carry anything above 150 grit that I thought about this possibility and feared I might need to set up a "grit conversion chart" when following tutorials involving sanding from American writers. I think I'll ask my dad if he knows where the grit number on German sandpapers comes from, maybe he knows, but maybe it's already such an industry standard that everybody knows how 400 grit sandpaper looks but nobody knows why it's called 400 Thanks for the info so far guys, I'll post if I have any confirmed results so long ace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Posted October 28, 2003 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2003 http://www.sign-lang.uni-hamburg.de/TLex/L...ata/L3/L379.htm Basically it says that the square inch is the reference point, so I think that is clear now...don't know why the shop I was in had them sorted by "grain per cm^2", perhaps just a mistake buy the guy who printed the price tags. sorry for the confusion so long ace P.S.: The site is a sign language dictionary, how cool is that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbarstrat Posted October 29, 2003 Report Share Posted October 29, 2003 I wish Hela rang a bell, because I had a hell of a time trying to find good tools at good prices there. I can't remember all the shops names, but I did go to Hartmann (expensive), Toom, Hornbach and Obi. Not sure if I spelled them all right. Obi seemed to have the best prices, at least on the stuff I bought. If there's a better shop that I haven't been to (maybe Hela would be just that), then I hope I can go there next time. Unfortunately , I've become spoiled in the US, with being able to buy stuff, such as Chinese dial indicators for only 7 dollars. It also seems like I have paid less for tools made in Germany that I bought in the US, then what I've seen them selling for in Germany. I know I got off the sandpaper subject. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsera Posted October 29, 2003 Report Share Posted October 29, 2003 Tag Ace, Ich glaube das deise 2cm bezeichnung war nur da um die umrechnung leichter zu machen für Europa. Es gibt sicherlich ein DIN fur schleifpapier wie alles andere auf diese welt. Grit wird immer in inches gemeint. Falls du dich wundern soll wieso mein Deutch so schlecht ist ,ich bin Amerikaner und wohne in Bremen. MfG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Posted October 29, 2003 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2003 Hi Rsera, thanks for your post mate, and no point in excusing for bad language, your German is really good...when I first flew over your post, I didn't notice any major mistakes at all, until I read your last sentence and then went over the posting more carefully again ;-) As to the original topic, You're probably right that they wanted to make conversion easier for the continental Europeans, but what they did in the end was confuse the hell out of me, hehe. I don't know if there really is a DIN or if that's the measure for the rest of the world, because DIN is short for "Deutsche Industrie Norm", or German Industry Norm. Anyway, I can rest assured now that I can walk into a hardware store anywhere on the world and ask for 400 grit sandpaper and get the same thing. That's cool. Btw, I appreciate that you answered me in my native tongue, made me feel even a little more at home than I felt anyway. What exactly are you doing in Bremen rsera? Came over here with the Army, I suppose? so long ace the abrasive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsera Posted October 30, 2003 Report Share Posted October 30, 2003 Hi Ace, yes with the Army.My wife is German and Beamtin so she didnt want to go to the states,cause of her good job here.I decided to stay here and 15 years later im still here.Germany is a great place to live, a lot of history and the beer is very good. catch you later Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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