good turning wood for sandblasting

[Gary Chapman]

I just finished a large ash bowl and wanted to give it an interesting texture like sandblasting thinking it would give a really deep 3-dimensional effect but I tried blasting it with 120 lbs. of pressure and basically nothing happened. It did open the pores but i was expecting deeper ridges in dthe grain. I sguess ash is too hard of a wood to work with that technique.
Can someone comment of a good soft wood that will gdive me sthe deep hollows between grains? Thanks Gary

 

[Donna Banfield]

Ash can be sandblasted

as can any open grained wood. You may have better luck if you use a propane torch on the areas you are sandblasting. The burning will soften the areas in between the rings; then sandblast again, using an aggressive media, and your finished product will have more prominent depth between the grains.

If you don't want to have the final product darkened from the propane torching, clean up the area with a brush, and then use a 2-part bleach to lighten the wood again.

Most sandblasted pieces are turned quite thin to enhance the appearance that the sandblasting does, such as the work by Pascal Oudet.

 

[Mark Mandell]

I just finished a large ash bowl and wanted to give it an interesting texture like sandblasting thinking it would give a really deep 3-dimensional effect but I tried blasting it with 120 lbs. of pressure and basically nothing happened. It did open the pores but i was expecting deeper ridges in dthe grain. I sguess ash is too hard of a wood to work with that technique.
Can someone comment of a good soft wood that will gdive me sthe deep hollows between grains? Thanks Gary

Gary,

What kind/grade of blast are you using? 90psi is usually enough, but glass beads will have little effect on wood.

I do hope you're doing this in a cabinet with a DC going.

 

[Gary Chapman]

blasting

Mark,
I used a very large cabinet model with 120 lbs. of pressure, had the gun right up against the piece and it did open up the pores but no depth.
I used sdthe booth at a local welding shop that does this all the time.
I was hoping for better results. Thanks

 

[Bill Boehme]

I think you would get the best results with wood that has a large difference in hardness between early and late wood. A couple examples would be fir and southern pines. In general, I suppose that conifers would be better than hardwoods, but I am sure that there are exceptions. You will probably need to do a lot of culling to find the grain pattern that suits your desire -- sometimes the growth rings are very wide and other times very tight. Also, instead of sandblasting, you might experiment with a miniature needle scaler. I have not tried it, but I know that needle scalers can be used for various surface treatments such as dimpling. I have a large scaler that I use for removing rust, but have not used it on wood. I have experimented a bit with the Nyalox reticulated and bristle abrasive nylon wheels to create "weathered" wood, but it is a very slow process. Light charring before sandblasting might possibly work.

 

[john lucas]

I think Pascal Oudet uses Oak. I could be wrong, my brain doesn't work well early in the morning. I think the medium has a lot to do with it based on my reading but I have yet to try sandblasting. I bought a cheap gun but have yet to buy the medium to put in it.
The glass artists I know do a lot of sandblasting and we had a long discussion about the blasting materials. There are a lot of differences in the aggressiveness of the grit.
Thanks for posting this. I hope to learn something useful so I will buy the right stuff.

 

[Richard Coers]

I've gotten good results on ash with 60 grit aluminum oxide, and even "black magic" (some kind of slag) from Menards, both at 90 psi. The black magic is better on darker woods, and may leave some black specs in the early grain. The nozzle they have may be worn out also. A more concentrated tip works better on wood compared to a big nozzle, or a worn out one that really puts out a big cone. A pressure system is better to use than a gravity. I assume that you were getting good material flow. My favorite wood to blast is elm. I have some Chinese elm with small burl clusters that will get a really wild landscape look to it. I'll try that torch idea. I've liked the texture off torch burnt, but never liked the dark char all over. Great idea!

 

[Mark Mandell]

Mark,
I used a very large cabinet model with 120 lbs. of pressure, had the gun right up against the piece and it did open up the pores but no depth.
I used sdthe booth at a local welding shop that does this all the time.
I was hoping for better results. Thanks

Hi Gary,

I know several weld shops near me, and many of them use glass beads as the blast medium rather than sand, because they use the blast to merely clean the metal surface prior to welding. You need sand or another medium with its sharp edges to abrade the wood, so I suspect your problem was with the medium.

I've sand blasted several pieces, maple and ash, and No. 2 sand has an immediate effect on both. With ash you'll get ridges as the sand wears away the summer wood and leaves the harder winter wood behind. I didn't go that far with the maple as what I was looking for was to create a "buck" suede-like surface. Worked well, BTW. Had a lovely, soft feel, but it was quite fragile.

 

[Bill Boehme]

The beads used for paint removal are plastic -- I don't know about the beads used for removing rust, but they might be ceramic. However, using beads, which are smooth, is akin to using worn out sandpaper. You need a sharp abrasive to cut the wood fibers.

 

[Gary Chapman]

blasting

Mark,
I don't know. The blaster used sand and it seemed to be flowing great, just would not eat away the softer grain. It did leave black material in the softer eaten areas. It also left a splothey places all over like little dots of darkened spots. I tried to stain it afterward to even out the look but the spots showed up and it looks worse now. I probably should have not blasted it so I will try another place and blast it again. Thanks for all your help. Gary

 

[Wayne Spence]

wood for sandblasting

I started a thread on sandblasting in Dec 2009. Go to it, there are a couple of good references to follow by Pascal Oudet and Steve Worcester.

 

[DOCworks]

I just recently spent 3 days with Trent Bosch and one of the area we played with was sandblasting. He had us use medium grade glass medium(I have the brand in my notes somewhere), but said the course grade would have been more effective on the hickory we were using. Any spieces of wood where the growth rings are large, to get texture you are removing the soft wood and the harder areas or growth rings do not abrade as quickly. Oh, I'm sure you know this but it's not a good idea to put the piece back on the lathe, your tools will not be happy.

 

[Malcolm Tibbetts]

With my limited expereinces at sand blasting, I have to say softer woods give a much more dramatic effect. My best results were done with redwood. Bill Luce has done amazing work with fir.

 

[MichaelMouse]

Bill said it on the fourth response, Any wood with a great difference in hardness between early and late wood. Softwood or hard, makes no difference. Distance between them is of little consequence unless you're actually sandblasting with a medium size that will span the gaps.

That said, if the objective is merely to accentuate the difference, a wire brush on a motor shaft is superior to sandblasting. You may char to help kick out the more vulnerable earlywood, but it will take extra work to clean up the whole. Not that char looks bad in itself. Sold a lot of "barnwood" pcture frames faked up that way. You can follow the grain, slowing in areas where it is convoluted to cut in to the same depth as the face grain places.