What’s the best wood for sandblasting? I have access to mostly cherry, maple and some oak( red and white). Thanks
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Sand blasting turnings?
- Thread starter Ted Pelfrey
- Start date
White oak is pretty awesome for blasting. Check out Pascal Oudet's gallery page. He does a lot of white oak.
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Depends on what you are trying to get.
Woods with hardness differential in the growth rings show the deep grain grooves - China berry, Douglass fir, ash
On the oak pascal Oudet does- he depends on the hard rays to hold the thin turnings together as he skeletonizes it.
Most of my blasting is sandcarving using resist to capture images and designs
Cherry shows some grain on the face and side grain but mostly gets a pebbly look.
10” cherry bowl with a knot
. 
Soft Maple gets mostly the pebbly look
14” soft maple bowl with Mayan images.
. 
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Thanks guys. That’s what I’m looking for hockenberry.
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Here is a 9” diameter Chinaberry you can see the prominent grain
Beautiful!
Am I correct in assuming that you get a lot more cutting action on green wood? So far I've gotten some nice matte finishes on metal, but the results with most of the dry wood samples I tried have been pretty limited. Still getting things dialed in though.
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I do all most all my sandblasting on dry wood.
I use course ground glass.
I've seen several people mention that they're using an 1/8" tip/nozzle on their blasting guns. The smallest I have is closer to 1/4". Where can I find a smaller tip for either of the guns I have, or a new gun that has smaller tips available? I have the HF gun that came with the blasting cabinet, and I have one of the import copies of the slightly bulbous triggerless gun.
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I use a 1/8 mostly.
Harbor freight probably has the nozzle.
If your nozzle is a sort of pink they sell a 4 pack in different sizes. ( you know 1 you want and 3 to occupy drawer space)
If you have a HF close by go to the store with your nozzle and see if the have one that matches.
Thanks for your help! I checked the one's on the HF website, but the 1/8" ones don't look like they'd fit either of my guns. I did find a 35mmx20mm nozzle with 3mm bore on Amazon, so I ordered that. It's a boron carbide nozzle, so of course, it's more expensive, but I imagine it'll hold up to ground glass abrasives longer than I'll be around.
Where do you sores the course ground glass? We have a new HF in town so I just got the silica.
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You might have some hardware store that carrys blast media.
I get mine from graingers. Order on line pick up at the store. If you have a graingers nearby that is a good option. They will send it to you door for $30 more.
One time during the pandemic I got some from Amazon it was like $10 more than pickup at graingers checked and best I saw was $75 and when I clicked that the price was $85
Thanks
The ground glass media that HF is fairly fine. I got some course media from Amazon. McMaster-Carr carries it too. Their price with shipping is less, but they're in the next state (Ohio) from me, so your shipping might be more. They have multiple locations though, so it might be worth checking.
Hey Al @hockenbery,
Just wanted to give you a big thanks for all your direct and indirect help getting my media blasting and sand carving rig up and running. I spent most of last weekend trying to wring enough performance out of it using a couple different suction type guns with an 8cfm Quincy compressor. I got it to a point that was inconsistently usable, but not satisfactory. Yesterday I finally decided to add a Harbor Freight 20lb pressure pot blaster, knowing full well that I'd probably want to add some upgrades to reduce the clogging problems that the unit is known for.
Holy moley! The difference adding the pressure pot made was amazing! I can run it at a lower pressure and still have way more cutting action. Plus, I can run it a little longer before the compressor cycles. It so much more efficient now, I'll likely need to dial it back on softer woods.
Just wanted to give you a big thanks for all your direct and indirect help getting my media blasting and sand carving rig up and running. I spent most of last weekend trying to wring enough performance out of it using a couple different suction type guns with an 8cfm Quincy compressor. I got it to a point that was inconsistently usable, but not satisfactory. Yesterday I finally decided to add a Harbor Freight 20lb pressure pot blaster, knowing full well that I'd probably want to add some upgrades to reduce the clogging problems that the unit is known for.
Holy moley! The difference adding the pressure pot made was amazing! I can run it at a lower pressure and still have way more cutting action. Plus, I can run it a little longer before the compressor cycles. It so much more efficient now, I'll likely need to dial it back on softer woods.
