I do agree that the other media is best for most blasters. However, we have a fellow here that has been blasting with sand for at least 30 years. He has done some of the most valuable high dollar restorastions, and most all of the vehicles in my circle of friends around here, including my three. I can assure you I have heard more complaints about the local " media blasters" than I have ever heard about his work. BUT HE KNOWS AND CARES WHAT HE IS DOING. Unfortunatly he is 70 and looking hard at retirement. I realize not every area has a guy like him, but some may.

 

I had ZERO problems when I had all my sheet metal and frame SAND blasted. Not only that, I have done it to other vehicles as well, and once again, no problems.

Get a guy who knows what he is doing and you won't have problems. But, it's ultimately your decision, I'm only going by my experience

 

just had my Hood, and 2 rear fenders blasted at a company here in CT. Place has good reputation, does lots of cars and sheetmetal. they used sand on my stuff because it had lots of surface rust, but they do have other media available. charged $120 for the hood and $60 per fender, to do both inside and outside. pieces came out very good, no warpage.

However, I have warped sheetmetal in the past at home with a pressure blaster and sand.

I used Nason select-prime which is an epoxy/urethane primer over the bare metal. some spots got a high build epoxy primer on top of that.

 

There's always exceptions to every rule, my rule is just because you can doesn't mean you should. I just go with what the experts recommend, and who they use. I tell my own jewelry customers: there are 3 ways this work can be done: cheap, quick, or right; the first two requires cut corners to save money and/or time, which do you want? If you want cheap or quick I recommend you go elsewhere, but when you bring it back to fix what they did as well, it's going to cost a lot more and take even longer.

 

__________________________
If anyone here needs to push their truck over a cliff, I have a small hill in my back yard that might qualify.... Hey, anything for my buddies.
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XFM...

 

I like to tell my customers I have a three choices on the menu:

1-Fast delivery
2-Low cost
3-High quality

Pick two.

 

Project48, do you have any experience with metal-prepping? AX touched on it in his reply. It's a chemical process that basically coats your bare metal with a zinc phoshorous. I did that on my frame and body parts after they were blasted, pics in my gallery, it's a similar process to what the mfgrs do with newer cars. This way, if you happen to wet-sand though your primer, or if you get a deep rock chip your metal won't rust underneath. A very good idea if you're keeping this pickup long-term.

Gary