Steve Phillips 24th May 2003, 05:29 PM Well, I have another driftwood dilemma- I'm about to purchase a compressor to use with a small sandblaster, and I'm afraid I may be heading down the wrong road. I'm building some weird and (hopefully!) artistic office furniture with large pieces of driftwood, mostly cedar. I have some surfaces planed and nice, and I intend to sandblast the natural areas to 'freshen' the surfaces, and bring out the form and grain. (This is old and weathered stuff.) I bought a sandblaster that holds 40 pounds of sand, and intend to buy a compressor ($400, 227L tank, 220V, 10-12 CFM/.3 CuM? @ 90psi...almost overkill for spraying paint, but for sandblasting?) (sorry about my pathetic attempt at the metric system, but my country (USA) decided the old system is better. What's better about it, I have no idea!) to run it. I'm sure it would be better if I had a larger capacity compressor, but does anyone know if this is going to be hopelessly inadequate? I'll have quite a few square feet (1 sq ft = 30.5cm x 30.5cm) to blast, and I'll need to blast again and again as I finish different pieces. Otherwise I could rent something for a day and be done with it. Any advice on this would be appreciated. Thanks! Steve
PS- A while back I asked about filling a long depression in the desk top with resin, and in the end I routed out the meandering area and made a filler piece to set in to it. The filler's about 23cm wide and 2.3m long, and I'm going to stain it to accentuate it. It'll look great! Thanks again.
udon thani 3rd March 2005, 08:50 AM No replies in 2 years, oh well, here goes......
I'm trying to find out how to sandblast vineyard wood, ie: the thick branches cut off seasonally.
Any ideas please? :)
TIA
udon (BKK)
Woodlice 3rd March 2005, 11:49 AM I used to use a sand blaster while I was apprenticed. The unit was self contained, and recycled beads that hadnt gone to powder.
Never used it on wood though, which is a shame because I keep fish that eat wood for a living (Pleco's) and a sand blaster would have been handy for preping for the aquarium.
The compressor unit was huge. I never saw one so big until I was in at Beaurepaires on the weekend. They need that sucker filled with air all the time so its no surprise really.
J!
Steve Phillips 3rd March 2005, 06:18 PM Well, I'm not quite sure what to tell you, but I did end up going the route I discussed in my old message, and it worked out beautifully. The desk really turned out wonderful. The sandblasting was just the thing to bring out the color and grain in the wood. I'm not so sure how different it will be if you're working on wet wood, but then you can always let it dry... Although the compressor I bought is overkill for most everything EXCEPT sandblasting, I love having that thing in my garage/shop. It sounds like you'll be doing smaller pieces occasionally, so you may be able to get away with a smaller compressor. On the other hand, while you are blasting, you'll be using LOTS of air! I ended up using a silica sand- about 90 grit, I think, and it worked great. Caution: Learn about silicosis, and protect yourself! Good luck with your project- there's a lot of natural beauty in gnarled and twisted wood. Sort of off-topic... for my finish, I had great success with shooting multiple coats of laquer, then rubbing it all down with the finest steel wool I could find. '0000', I think. Cheers! Steve
Woodlice 3rd March 2005, 07:02 PM Good to see that you're still around Steve.
J!
Arron 3rd March 2005, 08:26 PM Any chance of a photo Steve.
cheers
Arron
Steve Phillips 4th March 2005, 11:30 AM Hello, gents! Well, I wish I HAD some decent pics of that project... I should have set it all up on a lawn somewhere and taken pics, but time pressures forced it quickly in to my friend/customer's office, and it's been impossible to get any pics of it in there. Very small office, (FULL of desk!) and weird ugly paint job on the walls make everything look yellow in there. He tells me that he recently took some 'better' pics of it, so I'll see what he has. Something would be better than nothing, in any case. Interesting note- a few months after the desk was installed, he put me to work again building some shelves for the office back wall- more driftwood- all very sculptural. Came out great once again. I'll pester him for pics. Thanks for your interest! cheers- Steve
soundman 5th March 2005, 10:09 PM I discovered two things about sand blasters (even small ones)
They chew large volumes of air, which isn't too much of a problem if you have time to wait for the compressor to catch up.
They hate water. If you have excess water in your ait they clog up something cronic.
Now this means the first point can be a problem. If your compressor is banging away flat out & you are drawing larrrge amounts of air you will have water problems unless you have some good drying arrangements. A filter reg straight out of the compressor won't cope.
A second reciever (tank) away from the main compressor will allow the air to cool & drop most of the water before your filter reg.
cheers
Steve Phillips 6th March 2005, 06:24 AM Hello again- My friend sent me to an Ofoto site with some pics of the driftwood desk and stuff in his office. I hope this works! I think you have to log in or something to see the pics. I built all the furniture and shelving in the office. The main desk is a big slab of cedar, and I laid in a separate piece of cedar down the middle because the middle was sort of rotted/scooped out. It's the green part. The main desk has a piece of 1/4" plate glass on it. I need to put a little more support under the end of the glass, because the cedar has warped down a bit at the end. The part that curves up and sort of hides Scott's computer stuff was just part of the same slab that just worked out well. The big counters at the back and side are 4" thick old-growth redwood from a big slab Scott had. The shelves above are primarily 1.5" thick all heart redwood I bought for the purpose. I hope this link works- I ain't too computer savvy... if not I'll figure out how to do it right. Good luck! Steve http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=g9ztjsv.vyzzo7v&x=0&h=1&y=-ddwy3n
Arron 6th March 2005, 08:15 AM The link works just fine. That is certainly very creative work you have done there. I have never seen anything like that guys office. It is hard to see though, just what the sandblasting added to the effect. Did you use it to strip away the weathered stuff on the legs ?
Thanks
Arron
Steve Phillips 6th March 2005, 12:59 PM Thanks, Arron- Yes, I think the 'legs' of the desk were one place that needed a lot of sandblasting. Also the curved part that rises up from the desk. A lot of the natural surfaces are so extremely convoluted and deeply textured that I can't imagine any other way to strip off the weathered surface. This wood had been sitting around for many years, and the sandblasting really revealed the color, grain, and texture. I don't remember, but I'm sure I used a few hundred pounds of sand on this project.
Cheers! Steve
Woodlice 6th March 2005, 04:07 PM Wow!!! That certainly is unique! SWMBO saw what I was looking at and put in an order. The shelves are fantastic. The desk is beyond words. The draws... The legs...
Cheers for opening my eyes! Very inspirational.
J!
Rexmerdinus 27th June 2009, 06:59 AM I love it! It's very...Rivendell!
Drillit 27th June 2009, 01:50 PM Steve,
Great effort - he will need a forklift to move it if it doesnt take root in the floor. :U John m.
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