The sandpaper is a tool consisting of an abrasive material whose purpose can be to remove fragments of other material from a surface, give a smooth finish, polish or obtain a new texture, this tool is used in various industries and even its use is common in the home.
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What are the types of sandpaper?
There are several types of sandpaper on the market, and you must choose according to the objective you want to achieve, for this you have to know some of its characteristics:
Sandpaper grains
The grain is the abrasive quality of this tool. It is important to know both the composition of the grain and its size in order to choose the most suitable one.
Grain types.
Silicon carbide sandpaper: this type of grain composition is very abrasive and is used for sanding high hardness materials such as marble, concrete, stone, brick, etc.
Aluminum oxide sandpaper: the most common and commonly used sandpaper, it is used to sand wood, metal and walls, or any material to be treated afterwards.
Grain size
To know the size of the grain is enough to look at the number that is marked on each sandpaper, it is important to know that the lower the number of the sandpaper the larger the size, which means that the result is not as accurate, this type of sandpaper is ideal if what you want is, for example, to remove a material from a surface.
On the other hand, the higher the number of the sandpaper, the smaller the grain size, therefore, its use is for more delicate works that require greater precision.
A quick guide to which grain size to choose is:
- Very coarse (12 to 50 grains) ideal for roughing work.
- Coarse (60 to 80 grains) are used for smoothing surfaces.
- Medium (100 to 120 grits) do removal work, useful after using coarse or very coarse sandpaper.
- Fine (150 to 180 grains) is generally used for finishing before finishing.
- Very fine (240 to 400 grits) perfect for delicate and polishing work.
Sandpaper according to its support
Another way to classify sandpaper and determine which one best suits your needs is by the type of backing:
Paper sandpaper: it is the most common sandpaper on the market and its use is daily, it is also the most economical.
Sponge sandpaper: It is ideal for reaching narrow places, it is commonly used for sanding stucco and one of its advantages is that it can also be used wet.
Other types of backing: there are more work tools that can be used to achieve different results, for example, with electric sanders.
Some of these tools are: mouse sander, orbital sander, belt sander, eccentric sander and multi-tool.
Water sandpaper
This type of sandpaper is generally used for domestic use, as its name indicates, in order to obtain its sanding power it is necessary to moisten it.
They are also used in the automotive industry for repainting.
Wood and metal sandpaper
These sandpapers are designed for jobs that require a high quality finish, they fulfill the function of cleaning and polishing wood, plastics, paints, as well as metals.
They have a high sanding power thanks to their closed structure and can be used manually or with orbital sanders.
