# Emery Cloth, Sandpaper



## ddickey (Aug 12, 2017)

What do you guys use?
Want to get a supply of abrasives. 
Where is a good online store to buy these?
I notice Emery cloth comes in fine, medium but not grits, why?


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## richl (Aug 12, 2017)

I'm using 3m pads right now for the lathe and mill. I use very fine sandpaper for sharpening tools, 200-1000grit and above.
Anything coarser and I use that on disks, or flap disks for grinding and material removal...

Hth, ymmv
Rich


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## kvt (Aug 12, 2017)

All depends on what I am trying to do,   I have both sand paper and emery cloth.  And yes the cold comes in varying grits.   I also like the waterproof emery paper for some items where I do wet sanding for finish.    Use anything from 60 grid to 1500 use a lot of 320-400 cloth when doing some smoothing on the lathe,   use the coarse for shaping a bit,   and the real fine gives a nice surface to do final polish on.  Where to purchase I look for and watch for sales as much as possible,  and purchase roles of the cloth and large packages of the paper, then they last a long time.  
Hope this helps.


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## Ulma Doctor (Aug 12, 2017)

there may be many abrasives that could be considered emery cloth.
it is usually cloth backed with abrasive glued to its surface, not to be confused with crocus cloth.
crocus cloth has the abrasive coating the backing, but not bound to the backing in the same manner as emery cloth.
the crocus, iron oxide abrasive, sheds easily in comparison in use
crocus cloth is sold in the fine, medium, coarse grades without reference to grit.
were emery is sold in grit variations

i generally use emery cloth for sanding munged up or rusty shafts.
i use either 150 or 220 grit for my needs
the last rolls i got were at HF.
i was pleased with the performance and cost of the HF emery cloth.
some things are a crap shoot at HF, but the emery cloths are decent products
the wet/dry abrasives are generally my goto gear.
3m and Norton make fantastic products, but you pay a premium for them.
if you do a lot of hard sanding, the more expensive products will perform better and last longer.


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## benmychree (Aug 12, 2017)

I use abrasive cloth in "shop rolls",  I prefer Norton products, I think they are worth the premium cost.  I keep and use 80, 120,180, and 240 grit rolls in a rack that I made of 1/8 x 2" flat bar bent into a U shape with holes drilled near the ends of the U and a piece of 1/2" pipe that runs through the hollow hubs of the rolls, this is mounted on the wall near the lathe.  I also use wet/dry paper for various uses such as rough lapping on a surface plate, and keep various grades of sandpaper for woodwork.


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## David S (Aug 12, 2017)

I do mostly clock repair stuff and keep various grits of wet / dry paper mounted on a granite counter top sample.




David


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## tweinke (Aug 12, 2017)

Now that's an interesting idea!


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## RJSakowski (Aug 12, 2017)

I primarily use silicon carbide wet or dry paper ranging from 60 to 2000 grit. I use it dry, with WD40 or  water for a lubricant, depending upon the application. 

Last year, I made the pleasant discovery that the blown belts from my portable belt sander can be used with water.  An extra bit of life from an otherwise piece of trash.

For fine polishing, I use diamond paste, purchased from McMaster.  I use it with water or WD40 for a lubricant.


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## BGHansen (Aug 13, 2017)

I've got a selection of cloth backed emery cloth from Enco (MSC).  Have 1", 1 1/2" and 2" rolls in 60 grit down to 240.  Also have a roll of 400 grit.

Bruce


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## Dave Paine (Aug 13, 2017)

I do woodwork as well as machining.  I always have some sanding in my woodwork projects, especially wood turning projects.

I have sheets of abrasive from 60 grit to 2400 grit.  I have some as normal sandpaper and the finer ones also in wet-dry paper.  I use the wet-dry for sharpening hand bench plane blades.

I like the Klingspor abrasives.   There are many other good brands.  Klingspor has a good site and a couple of stores, one in North Carolina.

You can get a lot of different abrasives in many grits with paper, cloth, hook and loop backing etc.

http://www.woodworkingshop.com/

I have some cloth backed abrasives where were sold as wood turning abrasives.  I also use these on metal.  Work well.


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## Old junk (Aug 13, 2017)

I do a lot of body work,sandpaper is a you get what you pay for product.most cheap paper is garbage.3m or Mirka is only 2 I found not to "load up" with fillers and paint,more bang for your buck.keep Emory around also for heavy duty rough stuff.holds up without tearing.


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## Dave Paine (Aug 13, 2017)

I forgot to add this link earlier.  There is more than 1 standard for defining grits.  I found this chart very useful for understanding the many different standard  for grits.

https://lostartpress.files.wordpres...-honing-stones-abrasives-inventory-050514.pdf


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## Silverbullet (Aug 13, 2017)

An old leather belt works well with oil and paste grits. The polish comes up quick and shines great. It's a bit messy but really works well.


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## kd4gij (Aug 13, 2017)

I  keep something like this around    https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_...l+sandpaper+&rh=i:aps,k:multi+roll+sandpaper+


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## 4GSR (Aug 13, 2017)

Here's a picture of my stash!


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## tq60 (Aug 14, 2017)

We have lots of types and grits from many places.

Estate and yard sales are good sources as sometimes harbor freight in their bulk packs sometimes have good grade in them.

3m seems to be better tan many but it depends on material and tools.

Our delta 330 sanders consume standard sheets in seconds but reused belts last longer.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337Z using Tapatalk


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## Robert LaLonde (Aug 14, 2017)

I have emery cloth in rolls and its listed by grit size.  I have one roll of 3 inch I use for sanding blocks.  It holds up 100 times better than paper on sanding blocks.  My Emery rolls came from MSC, but there are lots of sources.  I've got a granite counter top I glue sandpaper to for rough squaring arts, and a section I glue fine sand paper to for doing alight pass to remove mill marks on aluminum parts.  I've been thinking about buying sheet size emery cloth for that too as the paper sanding sheets just don't hold up.  Not even the wet or dry stuff.


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## Z2V (Aug 16, 2017)

Just don't use Emory for anything electrical like seating motor brushes or electrical contacts, etc. Use sand paper for these type work.


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## Desolus (Aug 16, 2017)

My go to is a piece of scrap corian counter-top in my lathe spindle with various abrasive compounds, glued on sandpaper, diamond paste, oxide polishes, corian makes an excellent lap, and it is easy to re-surface. Best of all you can typically find scrap corian for free!

It really all depends on what specifically you are trying to do.


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## ddickey (Aug 24, 2017)

Ended up buying this.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/332264170788
Will try it as a starting point.


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## Silverbullet (Sep 2, 2017)

I've found a much better sand paper or Emory cloth, it's perforated like screen wire and it cuts faster and last longer . A lot of guys I know who use it will never go back to plain paper or cloth. The perforations let the chip dust fall thru no build up of grinding dust even wet it's super and lasts too. Industry recycles has it on eBay.


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## Z2V (Sep 2, 2017)

I have used that also. Like you say, it's great for removing a lot of material fast.


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## David S (Sep 2, 2017)

Is it sort of like what we used to call a "cheese file"...the Stanley surform?  Used them for body work.
\
David


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## francist (Sep 2, 2017)

If it's what I'm imagining, it's more like window screen mesh that has been coated with fine abrasive dust. I've seen it more specifically in sizes to fit drywall sanding brooms.

-frank


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## Ulma Doctor (Sep 2, 2017)

Silverbullet said:


> I've found a much better sand paper or Emory cloth, it's perforated like screen wire and it cuts faster and last longer . A lot of guys I know who use it will never go back to plain paper or cloth. The perforations let the chip dust fall thru no build up of grinding dust even wet it's super and lasts too. Industry recycles has it on eBay.


my father used tat type of sanding matrix for removing oxides from copper pipe before sweating fittings on.
the stuff we used was like coarse mesh coated with ALO2 abrasives, worked fast and the abrasive and backing lasted it seemed forever


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## Desolus (Sep 2, 2017)

Abrasive cloths can be made to last forever, like buffing wheels you can buy a few dozen cheap ones that will hold an abrasive just as well as an expensive one, but the wheel will wear down to nothing relatively quickly... or you can use the expensive option and have a wheel that will not wear down for years and you may have to charge it a half dozen times. It's almost never about how long the abrasive will last but how good you can hold onto it. Unless of course if you are cutting something that is very close to the hardness of your abrasive, in which case your abrasive will wear down to finer and finer grits.


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## Wreck™Wreck (Sep 2, 2017)

VSM and 3M


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## The Liberal Arts Garage (Sep 3, 2017)

Newbies : Don't mistake "shiny" for accurate. If you need to take off a tenth
to fit, use a USA lathe file. (would some one like to  write a note on who sells
these today? )BLJHB.


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## Wreck™Wreck (Sep 8, 2017)

The Liberal Arts Garage said:


> Newbies : Don't mistake "shiny" for accurate. If you need to take off a tenth
> to fit, use a USA lathe file. (would some one like to  write a note on who sells
> these today? )BLJHB.


Fascinating, please explain "files" and their uses.


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## uncle harry (Sep 9, 2017)

Silverbullet said:


> I've found a much better sand paper or Emory cloth, it's perforated like screen wire and it cuts faster and last longer . A lot of guys I know who use it will never go back to plain paper or cloth. The perforations let the chip dust fall thru no build up of grinding dust even wet it's super and lasts too. Industry recycles has it on eBay.



_ I also use coarse mesh strip abrasive that I received from a commercial master plumber.  They use it to clean & prep copper tubing for soldering. The stuff is great for ripping rust off of shafting in the lathe._


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