Diamond Honing Stones

[Mike Keers]

Hey gang,
I've noticed that many diamond honing or sharpening stones are colored (the handles or base)...green, yellow, red, blue...is there a method to the madness? Do the colors indicate relative grits? Curious minds need to know...

[Kim Whitmyre]

I have a large DMT diamond "stone." It has a blue dot on one side that means coarse, and a red dot on the other side that means fine, relatively speaking. Oh wait a minute, I'll go down into my shop...

Back now :p Here's teh lowdown:

Green=1200mesh=09micron
Red=600mesh=25micron
Blue=325mesh=45micron
Black=220mesh=60micron

[htom]

I think that the colors are consistant within a manufacturer's products. I don't know if there's any kind of industry standard. (That sounds entirely too rational, and perhaps inviting the feds to scream "collusion!")