Wood sandblasting removes old finishes and material from wood to create art or signs. Handheld pressure sanders or portable equipment with nozzles are used with stencils or templates. Eye protection is important, and sandblasting can also be used for industrial cleaning. Silica sand or natural products can be used as abrasive material.
Wood sandblasting is a method of removing old finishes such as varnish, shellac, or varnish from wood and removing material from a wood surface to create a sign or piece of art. Wood sanding advice is similar in terms of safety precautions, but differs in the material and equipment used for each purpose. The process involves an abrasive material being forcefully applied to the exposed wood or visible finish covering the wood, resulting in a design etched into the wood that is stripped of the old paint and ready for refinishing.
Sandblasting wood to create artwork or signs typically requires a handheld pressure sander with a hose to a hand nozzle used to precisely direct the stream of high-pressure abrasive onto the parts of the object to be removed. Portable sandblasting equipment typically consists of an air compressor, an abrasive material tank, a propulsion system, and a hose ending in a nozzle. Nozzles come in a variety of shapes and sizes, depending on your project needs.
For accurate wood engraving by abrasive blasting, a stencil or template must be applied to the surface to be engraved. A stencil is a pattern that protects the surface from being touched by abrasive blasting. Stencils or templates can be as simple as vinyl shelf paper that a design is traced onto with carbon paper, or as sophisticated as a special film processed in a machine that will produce a photographic image. In the simplest methods, a cutting tool such as an X-Acto knife is often used to cut material away from the area to be carved.
When working on a wood engraving, it’s important to remove small layers of wood with each pass. The nozzle should be kept moving over the exposed area and should not be concentrated in one spot for too long to achieve an even incision. When using portable sandblasting equipment, it is extremely important to wear eye protection because portable units typically do not have a dust collector.
Sandblasting is also used for industrial cleaning and stripping wood. These wood blasting applications are typically performed in a blast cabinet, an enclosed cabinet that houses all of the portable sandblaster functions within a small shop. The item to be cleaned or disassembled is placed in the cabinet and the process is carried out in a closed environment. Sandblast cabinets usually have windows to monitor progress to ensure that the cleaning or paint stripping is complete and that the wood is not damaged.
While silica sand is often used in wood sandblasting, backings that include natural products such as walnut shells and metal particles can be used as the abrasive material, depending on the project requirements. Silica sand is available in a variety of grits from 30 to 220 for different applications. As with sandpaper, larger numbers indicate smaller particles. For sandblasting wood, grits from 30 to 80 are generally recommended.
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