Selecting Sand Blasting Media for Paint Removal

[BHopkins]

Who of you have experience with sand blasting, and selecting the right media for a task?

I have a wrought iron railing along the walkway on the front of my home. It appears that it has two or three layers of paint, but the paint is faded, peeled, and has rust stains bleeding through. It is in need of attention, so I want to blast off all the old paint and rust, and repaint the railing.

I was wondering which media would be best for this task. From my homework so far, it looks like black aluminum oxide is pretty aggressive, and may be a good choice. But I also ran across an abrasive made of coal slag. It is much less expensive than the other options, so I would like to use it, if it will work for my task.

Any advice from those with experience will be greatly appreciated.

 

[JohnnyG]

I've seen a lot of it done over the years, all the way from 8,000,000 gallon storage tanks to small items.
To be fair, on a storage tank, they typically use a Rotoblaster, which recycles steel pellets and collects the (sometimes lead based) paint.
Small areas, and small objects were usually done with "Black Beauty", which I think is the coal slag material you are referring to.
So, if you can remove the railing and transport it, I'd take it to a shop that can recycle the blasting material.
If you can't do that, Black Beauty is quite aggressive since it has sharper edges than sand. It is also available in various grades of cut/particle size.
One caution though, that stuff cuts so well it will chew up a blasting nozzle if it's not rated for that material. Seems to me ceramic or some other hard material was required to prevent premature nozzle wear.

Garnet water blasting is also an option, if you have someone nearby that will do that. It takes specialized equipment, but will cut through steel if you want!

 

[Trav]

For rust and paint on iron coal slug works good and it is cheap, I buy 50lb bags from Tractor Supply.

 

[Nessism1]

Coal slag comes to my mind also. Aluminum oxide is quite a bit more expensive.

 

[tnt_motorsports]

@BHopkins I used the media blast in the link below last year to remove some paint off our front step. It worked well. My error was not putting some sort of plastic down to catch the paint prior to blasting. I would certainly try to do this to minimize clean up!

Menards media and a Power wash sand blaster from Amazon. You need to find the sand blaster that works best with your power washer specs.


Just my $0.02

 

[BHopkins]

I've seen a lot of it done over the years, all the way from 8,000,000 gallon storage tanks to small items.
To be fair, on a storage tank, they typically use a Rotoblaster, which recycles steel pellets and collects the (sometimes lead based) paint.
Small areas, and small objects were usually done with "Black Beauty", which I think is the coal slag material you are referring to.
So, if you can remove the railing and transport it, I'd take it to a shop that can recycle the blasting material.
If you can't do that, Black Beauty is quite aggressive since it has sharper edges than sand. It is also available in various grades of cut/particle size.
One caution though, that stuff cuts so well it will chew up a blasting nozzle if it's not rated for that material. Seems to me ceramic or some other hard material was required to prevent premature nozzle wear.

Garnet water blasting is also an option, if you have someone nearby that will do that. It takes specialized equipment, but will cut through steel if you want!

Taking the railing apart and taking it to a local fab shop would definitely be a convenient way to go. But for this railing, it is not practical. It is a continuous hand railing, about 45' long. I would have to cut it into sections, and then have it welded back together, once it was completed and reinstalled at home.

For rust and paint on iron coal slug works good and it is cheap, I buy 50lb bags from Tractor Supply.

Tractor Supply is where I also found the coal slag blast media. It's good to hear that it works well on paint and rust. Thanks.

@BHopkins I used the media blast in the link below last year to remove some paint off our front step. It worked well. My error was not putting some sort of plastic down to catch the paint prior to blasting. I would certainly try to do this to minimize clean up!

Menards media and a Power wash sand blaster from Amazon. You need to find the sand blaster that works best with your power washer specs.


Just my $0.02

Good point about putting down plastic sheeting, to catch the old paint. Thanks.

Another time that I find myself wishing I had a Menard's close by.

Have you used the power washer method? It seems like that could be a little more messy than just using compressed air.

 

[tnt_motorsports]

Taking the railing apart and taking it to a local fab shop would definitely be a convenient way to go. But for this railing, it is not practical. It is a continuous hand railing, about 45' long. I would have to cut it into sections, and then have it welded back together, once it was completed and reinstalled at home.


Tractor Supply is where I also found the coal slag blast media. It's good to hear that it works well on paint and rust. Thanks.


Good point about putting down plastic sheeting, to catch the old paint. Thanks.

Another time that I find myself wishing I had a Menard's close by.

Have you used the power washer method? It seems like that could be a little more messy than just using compressed air.

I have used the power washer method. It worked well but I agree it is somewhat messy.

I didn't have the necessary tools to use air and they were more expensive than the power washer method.

Just my $0.02