Anyone use a sand blaster

rodriguez7

rodriguez7

Gila wilderness knife works
Joined
Feb 1, 2009
Messages
1,428
Does anyone use a sand blaster to finish up some blades?
 
I use a cheap canadian tire (equivalent to harbour freight) one and i really like it. It is nice for finishing g10 and micarta. It also allows for a finish that is easily re applied if the knife gets scuffed or rusts. I use glass bead blast media in mine but i have also used regular sand blast media. Its not for every knife but it is a quick easy finish for user knives. I also use it to remove gunk after quenching before i temper. For a hundred bucks i think its well worth it. Note you need a decentish air compressor to run one. About 3cfm at 100 psi if my memory is correct.
 
I have a blast cabinet that I bought for several uses. Primarily it was to blast parts to be painted for some vehicle restos and race engines we were building. I do use it for knifemaking, but not so much for blade finishing. I have blasted a few stainless knives, but didn’t get the look I was after really. Mainly I use it for blasting tangs to rough them up for gluing, and to quickly knock off forge scale without having to acid soak. A lot of my blades are carbon steel, so a blasted finish doesn’t work because it rusts faster than any other finish. It’s still handy to have around and was worth the $100 or so that the whole unit cost, I just need a bigger compressor because mine doesn’t have enough constant flow to blast for very long.
 
I can see the uses, I think I’ll be ordering a small table top model.
 
I have one, but I don't use it much for knives, as I think a blasted blade tends to rust more easily, but it is good for other parts and pieces around the shop.

I will say that if you plan on getting a USABLE blast cabinet, make sure you have a large compressor, and spend the money up front on something like the barrel blaster. With all the time and money I've spent getting my HF cabinet usable, I could have easily paid for a barrel blaster and still had a better cabinet.
 
I personally favor the Vaniman style dental blast cabinets. There are import clones that are much cheaper. They're heavier duty than most table top units, but much more durable, and feature 1-3 external tanks for different media, with selector switches inside to select which grit, nice lights, and typically, foot pedals to actuate the gun.

They're designed for finer work in many cases, but you can still do big knives in them. Unless you need the capacity for something really long, I personally don't want to waste the shop real-estate.

https://www.vaniman.com/dental-micro-abrasive-sand-blasters/


To be clear, I don't own one yet, but I have used them. Before discovering them I had planned on having a few different cheap countertop units (switching out media is a pain in the ass, and you need multiple medias available to really utilize this IMO).

They have larger ones also in the industrial equipment section:

https://www.vaniman.com/product-category/equipment/equipment-micro-abrasive-sand-blasters/
 
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A couple companies sell upgraded guns for the HF cabinets. It makes a huge difference. Make sure you get a gun/nozzles for low flow compressors. I have 14-15cfm at 90psi and use a low flow nozzles. Also hook a shopvac up to keep the dust and cabinet clear.
 
does anyone use dry ice in their blaster ? It's the most gentle , actually non-abrasive. Best for cleaning auto engines of carbon deposits and cleaning old buildings so no damage is done.
 
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