WarmGlass.com

My primary experience in glass polishing came from polishing watch crystals (watchsmith for almost 2 decades.) Anyways, in watch world people rarely use loose abrasives, on thought that errant granules are more likely to create scratches as deep or DEEPER than the size of the grit and will deepen lower areas to some degree even as the high points are being taken down. So......, I don't use loose abrasives except for when I want to purposely apply a matte/frosted finish but don't want to sandblast. Thoughts.
*Yes, I have Tarlow's book.

I understood that any given abrasive grade contained a range; an 80 grit diamond lap pad included mesh sizes of 70 to 90, for example. Perhaps for something more exacting (like polishing lenses) a more precise grade is used?

Thanks Marty. I was really probing more for whether people are moving away from loose abrasives for cold work as bonded abrasives become cheaper. I generally only use loose abrasives below 1000 grit if I am trying to get a matte finish - I don't consider them a good use of time if I am trying to get to a shine.

Many people have changed to the bonded abrasives because you can use one or two laps and just change the discs very quickly. Having the loose abrasives requires you to have more machines, usually a dedicated machine for each grit or you spend a lot of time cleaning up when changing from one grit to another. This cost more for the equipment and also requires more space in your studio. I used to use loose abrasives but switched to bonded many years ago. Just as loose grit looses it's cutting power, so do the bonded discs over a period of time. Just be sure and treat your discs with care, because if you scratch them it will leave something on the disc that will create scratches in your glass piece. Been there and done that.
Years ago I knew of several who bought diamond grit and made their own discs from plywood and had lots of success.