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Grit Table / diamond / DMT plates

Product graded in microns

DMT diamond plates

Monocrystalline diamond, micron-rated

DMT rates each plate by both a mesh number and a micron figure. The micron is the maker's own figure, a real number rather than a marketing grit, but a maker claim all the same, so we tier it maker-published, not measured. The mesh number is a real US-mesh grade, not a marketing grit, but it does not conform to the FEPA-D superabrasive standard, which only designates grades down to about 38 microns; DMT's finer plates run below that, so they stay maker-published micron points. What DMT does not publish is the distribution: the diamond is a graded powder with a real spread, drawn here as a point because the width is unknown. An SEM study by Verhoeven (2004) found a 1200-grit plated diamond hone left coarser scratches than 6000 and 8000 waterstones, so even the micron label can understate how a plate actually cuts.

Each grade below shows its size in microns, its spread (the published distribution, where a maker or standard gives one; most makers publish none), and where that size lands on the reference scale, a shared yardstick for reading grit numbers across makers.