Suitable for both wet & dry sanding

Silicon Carbide

Waterproof

The Coarser Abrasive Grades

Grit Levels P40 & P60 – Most projects won’t need these sandpaper grades. They’re only required for cleaning up rough lumber, evening out large bumps in the wood, & removing stubborn old paints. Essentially, you’ll use these to soften anything that’s too rough for your hands to handle. Also, they can remove almost anything so don’t hesitate to jump up to the next grit.

P80 Sandpaper – This is the starting grit for most hardwoods and is a staple for every wood worker. P80 grit is the best option for removing saw blade burns and deeper surface scratches. In the case that you’re working with a hardwood like Poplar, you can probably jump the line to P120.

Medium Sanding Grades

P120 Sandpaper – Any wood that was too soft for P80 will start the latter at P120. We generally use this grit when first smoothing pine, redwood, & cedar. Lastly, enamel paints and polyurethane don’t require the wood to be sanded beyond P120. The only exception would be a clear satin finish, in which case you may want to eliminate any scratches left on the wood with P150 or P180.

P180 Sandpaper – If you encounter a raised wood grain fiber, P180 has your solution. Of course, you will have to refinish the wood per the original method. On a separate note, sandpaper grade P180 is a safe option for prepping latex paints.

P220 Sandpaper – For novice woodworkers, it’s time that we tell you that you have to sand with multiple grits. And P220 is generally the go-to 2nd & 3rd level abrasive for prepping wood for oil finishes. But in the case that you’re applying a wood stain, your destination does stop here.

Finishing Sandpaper Grits

P320 Sandpaper – When sanding between coats of polyurethane, P320 will wipe off any surface inconsistencies left from the finish. Also, wet sanding will generally use 320 as this practice requires a very fine grit as well.

P400 Sandpaper – Only oil finishes like tung oil & teak oil require the surface to be finished to this level. And it’s also not a requirement for all wood working projects that use those types of finishes. Lastly, you can rely on P400 to smooth the top coats of polyurethane.

Emery Cloth - Emery cloth differs to sandpaper in several ways: Emery cloth has the abrasive glued to a cloth rather than paper, which makes it far sturdier and less inclined to tear in use. Emery cloth uses a form of corundum (or corundite) as the abrasive, rather than sand. Emery is longer lasting than sand as a glued abrasive.