Cutting and finishing pad terminology

[sito]

What is difference between cutting pad and finishing pad? I am confused with the terminology. Why is it call cutting pad or finishing pad??

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[David Hayward]

The cutting pads are a bit stiffer if referring to foam and it is more aggressive. Cutting is a term used to refer to the process of removing some clear coat to correct the defects in the finish.

The finishing pads are softer and less aggressive and used after a cutting pad to clean up any fine marring caused by the cutting pad or to just refine the finish a little bit more to add as much gloss and clarity as possible. It's called a finishing pad because it's meant to be the final polishing step.

[Niblick]

effectively, they're all cutting pads, which might be where the confusion has crept in. they just go from very soft (used for finishing) to very firm (used for heavy cutting). so finishing is the process rather than the pad, but any soft pad can be called a finishing pad, because it enables a very light cut. hope that makes sense