Sand Paper

[TV]

I am looking for sandpaper in the 4000-12000 range for finishing off plane blades. Is there a local place in Raleigh that carries this stuff? Thanks for the help.

tv

 

[clowman]

Are you looking for a product called Micro-Mesh?

 

[Larry Rose]

I don't know how high the grits go but auto body shops use some extremly fin papers. Try one of them or an auto parts store like NAPA. I use diamond paste on the backs of my chisels and plane irons.

 

[BumoutBob]

Can't help with sandpaper. Smallest grit I've been able to buy is 1500. However there are other ways to do it. Rockhounds use diamond or Cerium oxide for final polishing of stone. Personally I have used Cerium oxide on a leather stap glued to a board. Mixed with a little water this works great. Cerium oxide is used to polish glass.
There are diamond powders up to 100,000 grit see: http://www.diamondtech.com/products/ Diamond powders are often used on flat laps made of tin or steel. I have read that the grit can be pressed into a maple board and the grit is often supplied in tubes with a oil carrier. Haven't tried diamond yet. The Cerium oxide worked so well for me I haven't needed to experiment further.

 

[BumoutBob]

Cerium Oxide and diamond can be found here: http://www.gravescompany.com/polishin.htm

 

[MikeH]

I'm going to just throw this out there. Is there much of a benefit of going higher than say 2500 grit?

 

[Wildwood]

Use higher grit sandpapers for finishing the finish. Also use higher grit sandpapers on oily woods that will be left unfinished.

 

[MikeH]

Use higher grit sandpapers for finishing the finish. Also use higher grit sandpapers on oily woods that will be left unfinished.

I know that, but for plane blades? I use MM up to 12000 grit with my pens.

 

[MikeH]

Could you tell snowshowhare where to get the 12000 grit micro mesh?

Oops! I guess I could have done that too. I've gotten the 2"x2" pads from Klingspor's and I've also seen them at Woodcraft. Klingspor's also sells MM in sheets.

I've also seen it at http://www.sisweb.com/micromesh/ , but have never purchased from them.

HTH,

 

[TV]

Thanks for the responses. Micro mesh would be fine. Right now I use up to 2000 grit for my plane blades and thought to finish it off, 4000 and 8000 would do. Maybe the better question is 4000 and 8000 overkill?

I'll check Klingspor this weekend and see what they have in stock.

tv

 

[Tarhead]

Instead of looking at a general auto parts store, look in the Yellow Pages for Auto Body Shop Supplies. I use Bradley's in Concord for my extrafine waterproof Nikken silicon carbide paper up to 3000 grit for <$1/sheet. The abrasive grading system on these kinds of paper and water stones are not the same. If you can find it, I uploaded a comparison spreadsheet a while back to the download section. The 3000 grit leaves a mirror finish on the backs of my chisels and plane blades so it's way up there in the comparable waterstone grit.

 

[nelsone]

At 2000 grit you will have a mirror finish on the plane irons and they will be razor sharp. I personally think going above that will be overkill. Most people that want to go beyond 2000 grit start getting into waterstones which you can find, I think, up to 20,000 grit. I don't think micromesh is going to be of much benefit. As I understand it, MM is used for polishing paints and plastics and probably won't have much effect on the irons.

You may want to post the question on Woodnet. There are several plane makers that frequent there.

 

[Wildwood]

These guys may have some answers:

http://www.shavings.net/scary.htm

I get wet/dry sandpaper up to 2,000 grit in small sheets here at Advanced Auto, when they have them. Haven't used sandpaper for sharpening.

I use a honing guy and assortment of oil/ark stones, if can find the ammo can with same, or just go to grinder. Of course rust removal is 1st task before using anyone of my three planes.

Have a friend that uses Japanese water stones. Has promised to sharpen my blades and install them correctly in the planes for me!

 

[DaveO]

Micro Mesh isn't rated the same as most sandpaper grits. Here is a comparison chart -

http://www.fine-tools.com/G10019.htm

Using it you aren't getting much higher than 2000 grit in standard sandpaper ratings.

And here is a standard sandpaper grit rating comparison for the different rating systems -

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]Sandpaper Grit Comparison Chart[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]Think that all sandpaper grits are graded the same? Think again. Whether is "P grade" or "CAMI", they are slightly different, especially for grits finer than about 220.[/FONT]​

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]

[/FONT]
http://www.greenvillewoodworkers.com/grit_chart.htm
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]HTH, [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]Dave[/FONT]

 

[TV]

Thanks for the info. Looks like if I want to go finer I will either need to go to a wetstone or the stuff Bumoutbob mention. I will probably be sticking with what I already have.

tv

 

[DaveO]

Mike, this is a very confusing subject. There are several grit size classifications that are used to rate sandpapers. Depending on which source you look at you can get very different results. Check out these couple of comparison lists.

http://www.sisweb.com/micromesh/conversion.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandpaper scroll down a bit.


But I would agree with you, MM can go finer than I stated.

Dave

 

[junquecol]

Personally I prefer the Tormeck Paste on a piece of MDF for final polishing. It puts a shine that even my ugly mug can't overcome. At about $6.95 a tube, which will last a lifetime, it is a great bargin. Remember the "kiss" method when sharpening.

 

[Gofor]

I personally think going beyond 2000 is overkill. After the first one or two passes with hardwood, I personally don't see any difference between 1000 and 2000, and have not seen any difference in longevity of the edge other than those first couple of passes. I am not using Hock blades, tho, so there may be an advantage in longevity with them by going to the finer grit. As long as I can get shavings around .001, I feel its sharp enough.

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