Color coded sandpaper

[John Coloccia]

In once of Raffan's videos, he recommends this cloth backed, color coded sandpaper. I believe the one he's using is available through Carbatec in Australia. Is there anything like that available in the United State?

[Bill Blasic]

You can buy it at Craft Supplies, catalog page 63.
Bill

[Ken Whitney]

John,

I use 3" Klingspor cloth-backed rolls and tear off appropriate length sections. I use a red sharpie to write a "code" number on the back corresponding to the grits (i.e. 1 = 120, 2 = 180, etc.).

Ken

[John Coloccia]

You can buy it at Craft Supplies, catalog page 63.
Bill

You're awesome. Man, I've been going out of my mind looking for this stuff. Thanks!

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Does anyone use it? If it's high quality paper, it's an awesome idea. Normally, I just write the grit on the back with a sharpie.

Sometimes I get a page woth all of the icons, and sometimes I don't. Right now I don't have any of the icons.... What is up with that...

[John Coloccia]

Im ordering some today. I'll let you know, but I'm assuming that if Raffan likes it, it's probably OK.

[John Coloccia]

So I've had about a week to play with this sandpaper. I like it very much. It's exactly the right mix of flexibility and stiffness for working on the lathe. It tears easily. It's thick enough that if you use it doubled over once, it stays cool as you're sanding. I find myself using it exactly how the manufacturer intends, i.e. I'm using all the little scraps that I would normally just toss out for lack of knowing its grit. In fact, I'm finding that I don't mind using big pieces of sandpaper now because I can keep reusing them. Normally, I tear off a small piece because I know that in 2 minutes it'll be gone forever. Now I use a nice big chunk knowing it won't be wasted, and every piece gets used until it's worn. It's so much faster to just grab the right color, too, as opposed to having to unfold it and look for some identifying mark (and finding it if you're lucky).

I bought the combo package with all the grits and a color chart, but after the first couple of times I don't find I need to refer to the chart anymore.

I wish I could get it in larger rolls, i.e. wider rolls, but that's not a deal breaker. I know it's available in other formats but I can't find any more dealers in the US.

So if you can't tell, I'm really liking this stuff.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Thanks for the update!

It comes with instructions?