sandpaper over 2000 grit

...never bought, do you have any experiences? Wanna use to finish knives and flashlight up to a mirror shining

In local shops I can't find it over 1200...

Goggling I find 2 types water/dry but I guess that need to use some water at that grit for a good work and also to avoid the suspension of the little particles produced, breath it can it be dangerous?

About the material used, is silicon carbide or aluminium oxide, what is better?

Any info or buy link(preferably cheap, also chinese sites) to that kind of sandpaper is welcome, ty :)

In the us most auto parts stores carry finer grades like 5000 for car painting;)

For online shops, I can recommend Elitecarcare.co.uk, i4detailing.co.uk and many others from UK. I had 3000-4000 grits from one of these shops.

for finishing steel, 2000 is as high as I go, then buffing wheel w/ rouge. For aluminum 1500 is good (you can even buff by hand at that point) and 1200 is ok.

you can go to those higher grits but there's no need if you are going to buff, which is the only way (I know of) to get a mirror like finish.

ty, maybe I will search in a car painting shop

@Kokopelli how much are ships? I think that is not worth for just some sandpaper

@dthrckt ty for the tips, but what is buff? I find the guy of twilight goggling it :Sp and improving cow leather... Is like deerskin? How to use, need to add some polish or just dry?

btw having more time I find that table

Grit size table
Grade & Application ISO/FEPA Grit designation Average particle diameter (µm)
Medium
(sanding bare wood in preparation for finishing, for gentle removal of varnish) P60 269µm For all general manual application. Back highly flexible and does not crack prematurely.
P80 201µm
Fine
(sanding bare wood in preparation for finishing, not suitable for removing varnish or paint from wood, use for cleaning plaster and water stain from wood) P100 162µm
P120 125µm
Very Fine
(sanding of bare wood) P150 100µm For intermediate hand-sanding for metal and putty shaping. Uesd in both dry and waterbased sanding.
P180 82µm
P220 68µm
Very Fine
(sanding finishes between coats) P240 58.5µm Generally hand sanding; for fine sanding on metal surfaces, automobile primer and top paint coats and jewellery polishing.
P280 52.2µm
P320 46.2µm
Extra fine
(start polishing of wood) P400 35µm
P600 25.8µm
Super fine
(final sanding of finishes, final sanding of wood) P800 21.8µm
P1000 18.3µm
P1200 15.3µm
Ultra fine
(final sanding and polishing of thick finishes) P1500 12.6µm Setting one of the highest finishing standard, it is used for final retouching of automobile top coat during last polishing and jewellery / precious stone polishing.
P2000 10.3µm
P2500 8.4µm
Micro Fine
(Near Mirror Finish) P3000 7µm
P5000 5µm

from that china ebuyseller

on the ironware when I asked a grit of 2000 the shopkeeper looking at me as an alien exclaimed: ok just use the newspaper...

I googled it too - that's a pretty weird definition that i've never heard lol

buffing, w/ respect to metal finishing, means applying a compound (some are solid, some liquid) to fabric (usually cotton?) or felt, and polishing the metal with it

newspaper is probably rougher than 5000 grit

3k and 5k will mean less time and effort buffing - but VERY little in comparison to the cost of the sandpaper. I always buy 3m wet/dry sandpaper for 800 grit and up, just because I've had good results, not because I've tried lots of others...

When I buff aluminum that I've sanded w/ 1500 grit I use a liquid/paste polish and a cloth, but if you're going to use a buffing wheel and rouge you can get away with sanding to 800, or even 600. Aluminum is very easy to polish.

For steel you'll need something like this. These are cheap options (and what I use currently) the buffer I dream of...because I've used one...is $900 lol.

I thought that the dreamel wool tip was not able to give an uniform finish maybe is my polish that sux, too big grains, when I'll get some free time will make some try also with toothpaste ty again for the tips and to Boaz that pm me his experience :O

yes, you need one w/o any grain/grit for a mirror polish, and to keep from deforming things.

I have a green rouge from matchless (brand) that doesn't have any grit...it just smooths it out - it will round ridges and such if you're not careful, but nothing like those w/ abrasive in them

btw, you can also buy grit in powder form (alumina is aluminum oxide), and then mix it w/ oil or even water for buffing/lapping

I have some 1200 grit alumina. I use it to lap the bottom of emitter pcbs to heatsinks, and I add it to epoxy, to increase thermal conductivity (w/o making it conductive), and also to make the epoxy more of a paste so that it doesn't drip as easily