When sanding wood, the choice of sandpaper or sand cloth mainly depends on the specific needs and the stage of grinding. First let's look at their basic structure.
Sandpaper is a rough paper coated with abrasive particles of different sizes used to grind items of different fineness.
sand cloth is made of abrasive particles mounted on fiber cloth, which has higher flexibility and durability.
Emery cloth is superior in durability
The base material of sandpaper is abrasive paper, which is easy to damage and easy to wear or tear.sand cloth with fiber cloth base material, more durable than abrasive paper, even under heavy load will last longer.
I have a customer from Australia. Once he replied in an email that the samples we sent him were not durable enough and were easy to tear. As a result, we found a clue from the pictures he sent. He used sandpaper to sand extremely uneven wood, because sandpaper is far less resistant to wrinkles and tears than sand cloth. That's what he's talking about. We are resending samples of sand cloth according to its use. This time finally passed the customer's experimental requirements.
So we can see that Sandpaper is suitable for high precision flat or straight grinding, especially at the beginning of the wood sander, the low mesh sandpaper can remove the surface of the wood blemishes and unevenness. In addition, water sandpaper is resistant to water and suitable for the use of water in the sanding process.
Because of its greater flexibility and durability, emery cloth is more suitable for grinding curved or uneven surfaces. For long hours of woodworking, emery cloth is a better choice. Under the same conditions, the grinding efficiency of sandpaper and emery cloth is basically the same. However, because of the flexibility of emery cloth, it is usually more suitable for handling curved and uneven surfaces.
What should we pay attention to when using sandpaper or sand cloth ?
Whether using sandpaper or sand cloth, it is necessary to pay attention to choosing the appropriate size and type of abrasive particle, keeping the workpiece stable, avoiding excessive force, and adhering to the correct grinding direction.
In short, sandpaper, especially low-mesh sandpaper, is recommended for the beginning stages of sanding wood and for flat or straight parts that require high precision grinding. For situations where you need to sand or treat curved and uneven surfaces for a long time, emery cloth is a better choice because of its durability and flexibility. In actual use, sandpaper and emery cloth can be mixed according to the specific grinding needs and scenarios to achieve the best results.
