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Thursday 25 February 2010

Latest deliveries

Just a quick one to let you know that we recieved a delivery from Ashley Iles today. So if you have been hanging on for bevel edged chisels or a particular carving or turning tool, the chances are that we now have it in. Stock levels on the website will be updated within the next 24 hours.

The delivery also included the new Peter Benson 1/32" V-Tools, as advertised in this month's Woodcarving Magazine. As far as we know these are the smallest V-Tools ever made, perfect for details like the veining on feathers, fine hair and subtle foliage textures.

Also recently arrived are a small top up of Clifton no. 7s (already up) and a selection of lime carving blanks which will be photographed and listed over the next week or so. Our Clifton promotion finishes at the end of the month, so if you want to place an order for one at the sale price (regardless of whether it's in stock or not) please give us a ring and we can backorder it for you.

Monday 15 February 2010

Micron Grit Conversion
















We have had a couple of questions recently regarding how the micron sizes used in our 3M lapping film equate to waterstone grits. Adrienne has done a little research and plotted the line of best fit between several sources (which were very close anyhow) and established the equation of the resulting line as 11139 times the micron size to the power of -0.9393!

I'm not sure if direct 'this = that' parallels are entirely appropriate in this case, my experience has been that lapping film produces a noticably finer surface finish than the equivalent waterstones. This may be a result of the particles all being extremely uniform in size, or the resin on the sheets being more durable than the clay of a waterstone.

Either way, here's the graph and conversion table:


























For abrasive film, an approximate comparison to European grits:

  • 5 micron is around P1200
  • 30 micron is between P400 and P500
  • 60 micron is around P240

If you are using the American grit system:

  • 5 micron is 1500
  • 30 micron is 360
  • 60 micron is between 220 and 240