sandblasting a wooden boat

[pduhglas]

I am restoring a wooden drift boat and the first step is to sand off the existing paint. Can a guy sandblast wood and not put holes in the boat? If so what type of sand and psi should I use?

[the1much]

see if this can be of any help,,,,,use the search button for "sandblasting"
http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/showthread.php?t=23430

[alan white]

Sand blasting will wreak havoc with wood. Strip and/or sand, or try some other type of grit as seen on the thread mentioned by 1much.

Alan

[PAR]

Soda ash and dry ice work well on wood, especially dry ice, but it's very easy to tear out the wood, between the growth rings, especially on some species.

If you must use a blaster (not my first choice) then a 1/2" tip, keep it well back from the work and use a relatively low pressure.

[lazeyjack]

I am restoring a wooden drift boat and the first step is to sand off the existing paint. Can a guy sandblast wood and not put holes in the boat? If so what type of sand and psi should I use?
use fine sand, and start at 30 psi,
a half inch nozzle will use 350 cuft inch at 100psi, so that one very large compresser a 75 cu ft will just abt run a 1/4 nozzle at 100, thats the pressure needed to blast steel
so volume is the issue here not the psi Toy from walmarts? nah
sounds like you have access to blaster?

[powerabout]

try the plastic media's like granulated polycarbonate

[rwferr]

You might want to look into a chemical stripper product called Peel Away or a heat gun. I just burned off all the paint on my 38 foot Baybuilt from the toe rail up with a heat gun in the last two weeks. It took approximately 40 man hours. I removed 45 years (approximately 15 coats) of paint and the paint chips weighed approximately 14 pounds. I do not think I would personally have used a sandblaster.

[keith66]

Sandblasting a wooden boat can be successful, i have done it several times with restorations. I used a small gun designed for car repairs with fine carborundum grit on an SE Saunders mahogany launch removing 90 years worth of paint & crud from her interior, the job took a lot less time than scraping & sanding and left a good finish. It is a filthy job and good breathing apparatus is essential. It does not work well on softwood where the growth rings are harder & softer leaving a surface like a worn out old shed!