# sandblasting wood



## emshep85 (Nov 26, 2012)

so im sure all of you has seen the zoo med range of sandblasted grape vine. so my question is this can it be done at home i mean surely it cant be that hard hire a sand blaster and hit up the peice of wood? has any one done this? any tips if you have?


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## Jacknife (Nov 26, 2012)

Seems like a lot of effort, hiring the sandblaster would cost more than buying the commercial pieces.
Unless you were planing on doing it on a piece of wood say 2+ ft long, than you would have a big learning curve on technique while you have the blaster on hire...


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## emshep85 (Nov 26, 2012)

well i have alot of cool pieces of wood that i would be able to do in a big hit and yeah some of them are very big


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## dangles (Nov 26, 2012)

coarseness and type of blasting media would be thing to work out. Even though they say sandblasted this could also be bead, crushed walnut shell etc alot of companies just say sanblasting even though its a different media used


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## Elapidae1 (Nov 26, 2012)

Exactly what Dangles said. I'm an industrial sand blaster and often hit wood due to overblast on pallets, gluts, skids etc and even with standard garnet it chews the **** out of it, though we are working with high pressure as well. Using spent garnet may be worthwhile and you may be able to hit up a local paint/blast shop

You can purchase rather small units from auto shops that pick up the media from a 5 litre bucket, you will need a decent compressor to run it still but it may be worth looking into I imagine that anything for hire would run int at least a good few hundred bucks for a day.


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## dragonlover1 (Nov 26, 2012)

I'm not sure the name of the shop but I recently read some junk mail that had small blasting units that could use different media from sand, garnet,plastic beads etc.and the prices were reasonable.


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## WillyInBris (Nov 26, 2012)

look for portable sandblasting gear maybe Hare and Forbes or ebay supercheap.

https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/S335 may do, just need a decent air compressor as well give them a call they should be able to tell you what you need. 

Trial and error I guess you could get a cabinet if your doing a lot of work to reuse the beads I guess otherwise just outside should be ok just wear what ever PPE is required.


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## BIGBANG (Nov 26, 2012)

i used to deal with a sandblaster when i ran a welding and powder coating shop, and they are actually really cheap, find ya local one and go speak to them, one that does fine smaller stuff rather than large onsite commercial work.


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## spotlight (Nov 26, 2012)

Has anyone tried a water blaster ? does a great job on wood also !


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## Norm (Nov 26, 2012)

I've done a lot of sandblasting (though a long time ago) and actually did a job blasting a lot of timber for a shop fit out once. It can be done but to get a good even finish you need to know what your doing or you'll only stuff it up. There's a fine line between not enough of an effect and blasting the crap out of it.


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## emshep85 (Nov 27, 2012)

thanks for the feedback guys might look into saving come pennies instead. at least until ive done some more research


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## Cypher69 (Nov 27, 2012)

spotlight said:


> Has anyone tried a water blaster ? does a great job on wood also !



My missus has tried a bucket of water on morning wood.
She doesn't like it when I D.I.Y. 8)


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## sacred_DUC (Nov 27, 2012)

Elapidae1 said:


> Exactly what Dangles said. I'm an industrial sand blaster and often hit wood due to overblast on pallets, gluts, skids etc and even with standard garnet it chews the **** out of it, though we are working with high pressure as well. Using spent garnet may be worthwhile and you may be able to hit up a local paint/blast shop
> 
> You can purchase rather small units from auto shops that pick up the media from a 5 litre bucket, you will need a decent compressor to run it still but it may be worth looking into I imagine that anything for hire would run int at least a good few hundred bucks for a day.



as ex sandblaster i agree the garnet would tear up what timber you had leaving u with nothing and a large bill, even looking around might be pushing poo up hill to find a blast company that is set up for very light gauge blasting


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## Snowman (Nov 27, 2012)

I have done it before just using a flap disc and a grinder. Works well, just make sure you wear a face shield.
Sorry for the small pics. Off my phone.


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## Red-Ink (Nov 27, 2012)

Snowman said:


> I have done it before just using a flap disc and a grinder. Works well, just make sure you wear a face shield.
> Sorry for the small pics. Off my phone.
> 
> View attachment 271949



Never even thought of sandblasting the wood before... definitely nice results there.


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## Snowman (Nov 27, 2012)

Red-Ink said:


> Never even thought of sandblasting the wood before... definitely nice results there.



I didnt sand blast, just sanded it down with a grider and a flap disc.


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## WillyInBris (Nov 27, 2012)

Snowman said:


> I have done it before just using a flap disc and a grinder. Works well, just make sure you wear a face shield.
> Sorry for the small pics. Off my phone.
> 
> View attachment 271949




I like what you have done with that Snowy I guess you could also use a Dremel or similar tool if you really want to get into some of the smaller areas as well.

That would have been hellishly quick with a flap disk I once took off 3mm tooooooo much off some aluminium on a job I was doing and it all happened in about 30secs with a flap disk I was amazed at how much damage I did lol.


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## Snowman (Nov 27, 2012)

WillyInBris said:


> I like what you have done with that Snowy I guess you could also use a Dremel or similar tool if you really want to get into some of the smaller areas as well.
> 
> That would have been hellishly quick with a flap disk I once took off 3mm tooooooo much off some aluminium on a job I was doing and it all happened in about 30secs with a flap disk I was amazed at how much damage I did lol.


Not as quick as you'd think. I used an old flap disk so it wasn't as abrasive as a brand new one. And grape wood has some pretty thick bark on it. Makes a mess of the patio though. Needed to use the blower vac after I was done


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## WillyInBris (Nov 27, 2012)

Snowman said:


> Not as quick as you'd think. I used an old flap disk so it wasn't as abrasive as a brand new one. And grape wood has some pretty thick bark on it. Makes a mess of the patio though. Needed to use the blower vac after I was done




Got to ask who do you get grape wood off or is it a secret


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## Snowman (Nov 27, 2012)

WillyInBris said:


> Got to ask who do you get grape wood off or is it a secret


There is heaps just up the road from me. An old vineyard is being turned into house blocks. But knock on the door of any vineyard and they will have old trees you can have.


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## WillyInBris (Nov 27, 2012)

Snowman said:


> There is heaps just up the road from me. On old vineyard is being turned into house blocks. But knock on the door of any vineyard and they will have old trees you can have.



ta thanks for that.


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