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​Sharpening Guide for Your Garden Tools

Bill Boyton is a member of the Garden Club of Austin and the Austin Bonsai Society and has been sharpening tools for many years. He presented to our club for the May, 2014 meeting and provided the following information on sharpening your garden tools:
​

This is from Woodcraft Catalogue and other sources and compares the approximate abrasive grit relationships of American and Japanese stones:
Stone Type US Grit Japanese Grit
Coarse Crystolon, Coarse India 100 150
Medium Crystolon 180 240
Medium India, Coarse Diamond 240 280
Fine Crystolon, Fine India 280 360
Medium Diamond 320 500
Washita 350 600
Soft Arkansas 500 1000
Hard White Arkansas, Fine Diamond, Medium Black Ceramic 700 1000
Hard Black Arkansas 900 4000
Ultra-fine White Ceramic, extra-fine diamond 1000-1200 6000

​Following is a list of several abrasive papers that will have finer US grit ratings. A US 1500 is approximately equivalent to a Japan 8000. Some polishing and honing abrasives are listed by particle size in Microns. One Micron is 1/1000th of a millimeter. There are approximately 25,400 microns in an inch. Note: Particles smaller than 10 microns can be a respiratory hazard.
  • Aluminum oxide = (color varies- grey, white, reddish-brown or dark) cloth backed emery
  • Ceramic is Aluminum Oxide heated to 3000 degrees F under pressure
  • Silicon-carbide = (blue-black color and harder, sharper and more brittle than aluminum oxide) Crystolon, wet-dry cloth and paper
Useful Web Sites:
  • Woodsmith
  • Woodcraft
  • Grainger
You can also download the helpful Sharpening Guide Article from Woodsmith.

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