✔ Competitive Pricing ✔ Quality Service ✔ Extensive Stock ✔ Experienced Staff
01726 828 388
Reset Filter
PriceTypes of Abrasive
A Guide to Understanding Types of Abrasive
At Westcountry Machinery 4 Wood we stock a massive variety of abrasives (sanding papers etc). This guide explains the strengths, benefits and recommended uses for each type to help you decide which is the best abrasive for your needs.
Use the shortcuts below to skip to the relevant section:
Aluminium Oxide (Trend)
What is Aluminium Oxide Abrasive?
Aluminium Oxide abrasives are designed for high quality, consistent results whether trade, professional or keen hobbyist level and is a great all-rounder for general sanding applications. Highly durable aluminium oxide grit maintains performance and gives 3 times longer life than conventional abrasives.
Recommended Use
* Non-ferrous metals.
* Hardwood and softwood.
* Timber based sheet material.
* Painted and finished surfaces.
* Fine finish fillers.
See the full range of Trend abrasives
Aluminium Oxide Belt (Robert Sorby ProEdge)
What is an Aluminium Oxide Belt?
This common abrasive is designed primarily to sharpen carbon steel bench chisels, carving tools and plane irons but will also hone harder high speed steel tools. The material longevity is at the lower end of the scale, but it makes an excellent economical choice. Work your way through grit sizes (heavier grits for the removal of more material) to achieve a fine finish with a 240 grit.
Recommended Use
Perfect for high Carbon steel tools such as woodworking and carving chisels.
Ceramic Belt (Robert Sorby ProEdge)
What is a Ceramic Belt?
This hardwearing material is a great choice for profiling and re-profiling damaged tools. The heavier 60 grit option is an efficient choice for removing plenty of material, while the finer 120 grit will provide a satisfying finish. Great longevity and highly practical.
Recommended Use
High speed steel woodturning tools (HSS).
Diamond Belt (Robert Sorby ProEdge)
What is a Diamond Belt?
Diamond belts offer the pinnacle in abrasive technology, providing durability and flexibility. Diamond particles are precisely graded to give a long-life solution and are excellent for sharpening the most difficult of materials. They also provide a great all-round alternative and are suitable for any material.
Recommended Use
Carbide tools.
Granat (Festool)
What is Granat Abrasive?
Granat abrasives consist of self-sharpening ceramic and stable aluminium oxide – this guarantees you an extremely long service life. Thanks to the special coating, clogging is avoided. Granat is Festool's most long-lasting and highest performing abrasive.
Recommended Use
Granat is a universal abrasive, however it is especially suited to:
* Processing modern paint systems.
* Processing plastics, fillers and varnishes, especially VOC varnishes.
* Processing hard sublayers.
* Machining drywall constructions and ceilings.
* Mineral materials.
* Painter and varnisher.
* Drywalling.
See the full range of Festool abrasives
Granat Net (Festool)
What is Granat Net Abrasive?
Granat Net abrasive mesh is the perfect solution for machining materials which produce a large quantity of dust. The open mesh structure enables dust extraction across the entire surface – for working cleanly, a high material removal capacity and a long service life of the abrasive.
Recommended Use
* Abrasive materials.
* For sanding work on repair compound, filler, paint, varnish and base layers which generally produce a large quantity of dust.
* Painter and varnisher.
* Drywalling.
* Joiners.
See the full range of Festool abrasives
Granat Soft (Festool)
What is Granat Soft Abrasive?
Granat Soft ia an abrasive that sits on a thin, soft foam base and adapts perfectly to the substrate. Granat Soft guarantees uniform removal over the entire sanding surface, right up to the edges, and ensures a fine finish without grooves.
Recommended Use
* Processing dry wall filler, plaster, dispersion filler.
* Sanding of completely filled Q3/Q4 surfaces.
* Soft ready-made fillers.
* Painter and varnisher.
* Drywalling.
Mesh (Trend)
What is Mesh Abrasive?
Mesh is a high-performance, Silicon Carbide abrasive. It has 5 times longer lifespan than conventional abrasives, and can even be rinsed and re-used. Mesh abrasive allows unrestricted airflow across the entire sanding base.
Recommended Use
* Non-ferrous metals, cast iron, stainless steel.
* Hardwood and softwood.
* Timber based sheets.
* Fibreglass, rubber, plastics.
* Painted and finished surfaces.
* Fine finish fillers.
Platin 2 (Festool)
What is Platin 2 Abrasive?
Platin 2 is a foam-backed, silicone carbide abrasive, with a stearate coating specially developed for high-gloss finishes on closed surface materials. Platin 2 abrasive is the best choice for extra-fine sanding work, polishing preparation and matting. The soft foam backing adapts to any surface geometry, ensures perfect pressure distribution, and is suitable for dry and wet sanding.
Recommeded Use
*Extra-fine sanding.
* Finishing polymer materials.
* Finishing high-gloss paints.
* Finishing plastics.
* Painter and varnisher.
* Joiners.
* Automotive.
ProNet (Charwood)
What is ProNet abrasive?
Pronet use an aluminium oxide abrasive, blue fired to remove impurities, for a longer lasting and clean sanding action, and the knitted fabric backing allows the dust generated to simply pass through, giving a longer working time without having to unclog the abrasive. The sheets are very flexible and fold and bend easily to mould themselves to the shape of the piece being worked on. Pronet has proven to give a longer life than conventional abrasives, and can be washed out for re use.
Recommended Use
* Woodturning Applications
See the full range of Charnwood ProNet abrasives
Rubin 2 (Festool)
What is Rubin 2 Abrasive?
Rubin 2 is an aluminium oxide abrasive specially for wooden materials.
Recommended Use
* Wooden materials and furniture.
* Preparatory sanding work for varnishing and oiling.
* Intermediate sanding or final sanding for varnishing.
* Joiners.
* Carpenters and furniture makers.
* Painter and varnisher.
Saphir (Festool)
What is Saphir Abrasive?
Saphir high-performance abrasive is ideal for working on stubborn coatings and raw wood thanks to the robust cloth backing. Saphir abrasive wheels are best suited to sanding off thick coatings on filled substrates and removing wallpaper residue after stripping. The abrasive wheels are designed for extreme conditions, meaning that even stubborn coatings can be removed without effort.
Recommended Use
* Extreme coarse sanding.
* Sanding off thick coatings and for removing wallpaper residue.
* Painter and varnisher.
* Drywalling.
Trizact Belt (Robert Sorby ProEdge)
What is a Trizact Belt?
This robust material is designed to handle the demands of all steels. These belts are built using brick and pyramid abrasive shaping. The highest 3000 ‘grit’ size will sharpen to two microns (the same sharpness as a disposable razor blade) and provide a factory finish on all steels.
Recommended Use
Perfect for producing a polished bevel and fine cutting edge on Carbon steel tools.
Vlies (Festool)
What is Vlies Abrasive?
Vlies (German word for Fleece) abrasives are suitable for fine sanding or oiling. Thanks to their flexibility, they adapt perfectly to the workpiece and create a uniform sanding pattern with their three-dimensional structure. The green vlies is best suited to evenly working oil into natural wood surfaces. The brown vlies is best suited to light sanding or matting of surfaces, no matter whether wood, varnishes or metals.
Recommended Use
Green vlies:
* Oiling natural wood surfaces.
* Painter and varnisher.
* Joiners.
Brown Vlies:
* Paints, clear coats, fillers, wood, metals.
* Light and intermediate sanding and matting of surfaces.
* Painter and varnisher.
* Joiners.
Zirconium (Trend)
What is Zirconium Abrasive?
Designed for heavy sanding applications, Zirconium is a high-performance, self-sharpening abrasive. Highly durable, it maintains performance 4 times longer than conventional abrasives. The self-sharpening grit maintains cutting performance by fracturing, rather than rounding, to continually expose fresh cutting edges.
Recommended Use
* Timber.
* Painted finishes (suitable for multiple layers).
* Plastic.
* Metal fabrication.
* Ferrous and non-ferrous metals.
* Hardwood and softwood.
* Fibreglass and rubber.
Zirconium Belt (Robert Sorby ProEdge)
What is a Zirconium Belt?
Designed for HSS tools, drill and router bits this material provides good value. The 60 grit belt will tackle the most damaged surface. Use the 120 to provide a rewarding cutting edge and finish.
Recommended Use
Ideal for High speed steel woodturning tools (HSS).
How can you find what you're looking for on our website?
Use the filters on our website to find exactly what you need. Check out this simple how-to video.
No items in this category
