Understanding Sandpaper Grit

Aside from the grits and grades of sandpaper, it’s essentially made out of materials that vary chemically. Sandpaper grit can be made up of either natural minerals called Garnet, or from synthetic materials called Aluminium Oxide, Alumina-Zirconia, or Silicon Carbide. The backing of sandpaper is a different story, with some including paper, cotton, PET film, polyester, rayon, and even rubber.

If you’re constantly asking yourself “what grit sandpaper for wood works best?” you have to understand what surface type you’ll be using, to know which grade of sandpaper to use. The reason that there are so many varying grit sizes is because each project requires a specific finish; not only that, but they are useful for all sorts of surface types, such as wood or metal. Grit sizes range in their appearance from being fine enough to resemble flour, to larger more coarse grit that resembles granulated sugar. All over the world, different numbers of grit are used more commonly depending on the country.

For example, the USA primarily uses CAMI (Coated Abrasive Manufacturers Institute), Europe uses FEPA (Federation of European Producers of Abrasives), and Japan use JIS (Japanese Industrial Standards Committee), micron grade, and the aught system. These are all the standard sizes for each place, however, there are plenty more that are commonly used that we rarely come across within Australia.