Grit - Mesh - Micron Conversion Chart

by Bookie
(Corn Patch, Iowa)

Katana blade repair & polishing has been my steady occupation for the past couple of weeks. I understood what grits to use as far as water stones/whetstones/emery paper was concerned, but things got a little murky when I started polishing in the mid to high thousands grits. Wanting to use diamond finger stones and some polishing pastes, I began investigating what brand was what.

What was found was that some products list the fineness of grit in microns. I didn't know what grit was what and confusion reared it's ugly head. The internet provided several charts that give one a close idea of what the different grits, meshes, and microns equate to. Attached is a chart that you might find helpful should you find yourself in similar polishing straights as me.

Example: I bought a diamond finger stone in 1 micron. I just finished polishing with 4000 grit water stone. According to the chart, the 1 micron is the equivalent of 14,000 grit. That tells me it's probably NOT the next grit I want to use.