Abrasive grit sizes of belts and stones used in knife sharpening

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Chart of Abrasive cutting rate vs. Sharpness
Scotch-Brite table
Trizact table
NOTES: 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. Sizes of 240 grit and larger (macrogrits) are determined by sieving, while sizes of 240 grit and smaller (microgrits) are determined by sedimentation. Both ANSI standards have a 240 grit. European "P" sizes are for coated abrasives; "F" sizes are for bonded abrasives.

A comparison of grit sizes of belts, wheels, stones and hones used in knife sharpening.
Description	Belts and wheels		Waterstones	Average grit size in microns	Trizact
	ANSI/CAMI (USA)	FEPA (Europe)	JIS (Japan)	Average grit size in microns
	12			1842
		P12		1764
*American National Standards Institute B74.12.	12*			1575
	16	P16		1322
	16*			1118
		P20		984
	20*			940
	20			905
	24*			686
		P24		740
	24			715
	30			638
		P30		622
	30*			556
	36			535
		P36		524
	40			428
		P40		412
	50			351	A500
		P50		326
	60			268	A400
		P60		260
		P80		195	A300
	80			192
		P100		156
Coarse Crystolon	100		150	141
		P120		127	A160
	120			116
100 micron belt				100
		P150		97	A130
Medium Crystolon, coarse India	150			93
80 Micron belt				80
	180	P180		78	A100
3M 74 micron diamond stone				74
		P220		65	A90
60 Micron belt, extra coarse diamond hone	220			60
		P240	240	58
Medium India, fine Crystolon	240	F230, P280		53
			280	50
		P320		46
Coarse Diamond	325	F240		45
Fine India	280		320	43
3M 40 micron diamond stone & belt	"400"	P360		40
Medium diamond	320	F280	360	36
35 Micron belt		P400		35	A45
			400	32
30 Micron belt		P500		30
Washita	360	F320		29
		P600		25.8	A30
Fine Diamond	600			25
	400	F360		23
22 Micron belt		P800	600	22
Soft Arkansas, 20 Micron belt, 3M 20 micron stone	"800", 500			20
18 Micron belt		P1000		18
		F400		17
	600		800	16
15 Micron belt, 15 micron SiC paper		P1200		15	A16
Hard white Arkansas, extra fine diamond, and medium ceramic	700		1000	14
		P1500		12.6	A10
12 micron belt	800			12
			1200	11
Queer Creek Blue Ohio Sandstone	600 - 1000			9-16
		P2000		10.3
3M 10 micron diamond stone	"1800"			10
	1000	F600	1500	9.2
Extra-fine diamond hone	"1200"			9
Hard black Arkansas, 9 micron belt	1000			9
		P2500		8.4
			2000	7.5
	1200	F800		6.5
6 Micron belt				6
5 micron SiC paper		F1000		5
Extra fine white Ceramic, green chrome rouge, 3 Micron belt, Tormek compound*	1500	F1200	4000	3	A3
		F1500	6000	2
Japanese Waterstone		F2000	8000	1.2
1 Micron belt, Linde C compound	2000			1
Chromium oxide polishing compound, 0.5 micron Chromium oxide paper				0.5
There is another chart of fine abrasive equivalents at https://www.gemsociety.org/info/chmesh.htm
Crystolon is Norton Abrasives tm for Silicon Carbide stones
India is Norton Abrasives tm for Aluminum Oxide stones
Raybrite and Linde compounds are aluminum oxide powders

* Tormek compound contains a variety of grains of various size, from 3 microns down to 0.7 micron. The average effective size is 1 micron.

Scotch-Brite Abrasive Belt Equivalent Grits

3M is not consistent in their use of color for a particular grit. This chart is based on Scotch-Brite surface finishing belt data.

Grade	Equivalent abrasive grit	Color	Abrasive Material	Finish (micro-inches)
Grade	Equivalent abrasive grit	Color	Abrasive Material	Aluminum	Stainless Steel
Coarse	80 - 150	Brown	Aluminum Oxide	130 - 150	62 - 72
Medium	150 - 180	Maroon	Aluminum Oxide	80 - 100	32 - 40
Fine	180 - 220	Green?	Aluminum Oxide	50 - 70*	15 - 25*
Very fine	220 - 320	Blue	Aluminum Oxide	16 - 35	6 - 12
Super fine	320 - 600	Gray	Silicon Carbide	8 - 12	4 - 6
*Estimated. Scotch-Brite is a tm of 3M Corp.

Scotch-Brite Hand Pads
Grit Designation	Color	Equivalent Grit	Abrasive
Extra Coarse	Brown		Aluminum Oxide
Coarse	Tan		Aluminum Oxide
Medium	White, Gray or Maroon		Aluminum Oxide
Fine	Light Gray or Green	150 - 180	Aluminum Oxide
Very Fine	Maroon	220 - 280	Aluminum Oxide
Extra Fine	Gray	320 - 400	Silicon Carbide
Ultra Fine	White	600 - 800	Talc

BearTex (Norton) Hand Pads in Order of Aggressiveness
Grit Designation	Color	Abrasive	Product code
Very Fine	Maroon	Aluminum Oxide	777
Very Fine	Maroon	Aluminum Oxide	747
Very Fine	Green	Aluminum Oxide	796
Very Fine	Gray	Silicon Carbide	851
Ultra Fine	Gray	Silicon Carbide	635
Micro Fine	Gray	Silicon Carbide	748
Non-abrasive	White	None	456

3M Trizact Abrasive grades (This abrasive is arranged in pyramids. They produce finer finishes and last 2 to 4 times longer than conventional abrasives.)
(Although Trizact "A" sizes are nominally the average mineral size in microns they produce a finer finish than conventional abrasives. See top chart on this page.)	JIS and P-grade equivalents
A3	JIS 4000
A5	JIS 3000
A6	P2500
A10	P1500
A16	P1200
A20
A30	P600
A40
A45	P400
A60
A65	P280
A80
A90	P220
A100	P180
A110
A130	P150
A160	P120
A300	P80
A400	ANSI 60
A500	ANSI 50

Chart of Abrasive cutting rate vs. Sharpness

Updated September 28, 2015

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A comparison of grit sizes of belts, wheels, stones and hones used in knife sharpening.

Scotch-Brite Hand Pads

BearTex (Norton) Hand Pads in Order of Aggressiveness

3M Trizact Abrasive grades

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