Reply To: EZY-LAP vs DMT diamond plate particle sizes
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Yes Mike, as you can see from the table below, the DMT Coarse with a grit size of 45 microns is equivalent to about a P320 sandpaper which for woodwork finishing would be regarded at least as the high end of medium. Notice that the just about equivalent in micron size EZY-LAP is in fact designated as medium.
In order to hog off significant amounts of metal such as for correcting bad bevels on 2nd hand chisels, I found it necessary to invest in the DMT Extra Extra Coarse of 120 microns & also the DMT Extra Coarse of 60 microns to step up to my normal sharpening regime of DMT C to DMT F to DMT XF to chromium dioxide impregnated leather strop.
Since I wrote the original post I have added extra columns that list the approximate correlating sandpaper grades where the P numbers are FEPA Paper grades & the A numbers are guesstimates of the corresponding ANSI grades using the http://www.washingtonmills.com/guides/grit-sizes-ansi/particle-size-conversion-chart-ansi/ table. Here in the Land of OZ we use the European FEPA P scale for sandpaper so other than looking at published tables on the net, I have no experience of the ANSI scale so some corrections might be in order there.
I’ve also now noted that the order of DMT C & EZL M rows should be swapped. My apologies for the untidiness of the look of the table but this forum doesn’t seem to be set up for the kind of table editing that I want to indulge in.
Micron order
DMT XXC…..120 mesh..120 microns……….. ~P120……….~A100
EZL XC……….150 grit…….60 to 65 microns… ~P230……….~A180
DMT XC…..…220 mesh…60 microns……….. ~P240……….~A190
EZL C…………250 grit…….50 to 55 microns… ~P280………~A220
DMT C……….325 mesh…45 microns……….. ~P320……….~A240
EZL M………..400 grit…….40 to 45 microns… ~P340………~A260
EZL F…………600 grit…….30 to 35 microns… ~P450……….~A335
DMT F……….600 mesh…25 microns………… ~P600……….~A370
EZL SF…..…1200 grit…….15 to 20 microns… ~P1000……..~A460
DMT XF…..1200 mesh……9 microns……….. ~P2400……..~A700
DMT MXF..4000 mesh……6 microns……….. ~P4000……..~A1000
DMT XXF…8000 mesh……3 microns……….. ~P8000……..~A1200