Our History

It all began with a failed experiment.

It was in 1890. In a small Pennsylvania town, the inventor Edward Goodrich Acheson carried out a series of experiments. He tried to heat carbon so intensely that it would result in diamond.

It didn't work.

So Acheson began mixing clay with carbon and electrically fusing it. The result was a product with shiny specks that were hard enough to scratch glass. This was silicon carbide, also known as carborundum.

The next year Acheson formed his company in Monongahela, PA and named it Carborundum, and moved the organization to Niagara Falls, NY, USA in 1895.

That was only just the beginning. Abrasive innovation has been a way of life for the Carborundum. Since then—in city and country, war and peace—Carborundum has been a manufacturer of high quality forming and finishing products.

The company's extensive list of firsts includes:

• Silicon carbide, the first synthetic abrasive which is still utilized in abrasive products today
• The first full polyester backing for coated abrasives
• Advanced ceramic abrasives
• The first patent on a fiber disc

In 1950, Carborundum bought Canada Sandpapers, Inc., which originally opened its Plattsville, Ontario, Canada manufacturing facility in 1930.

Canada Sandpapers technical achievements include:

• The development of aluminum oxide stearate paper products, which became the industry standard in the prime automotive market as well as the automotive refinishing aftermarket.
• The introduction of polyester/cotton backings for coated abrasives in North America.
• The development of urea resin bond systems for paper and cloth products.