Blast Cleaning

Cleaning vehicles back to bare metal is a major challenge in the restoration process, and something that we always found difficult to do – unpleasant chemicals, which are slow and dirty to use, ‘sand blasters’ which can blast the rust off but can also leave the blasted metal distorted and damaged, ‘dipping’ is costly, and there is the risk of leaving acids inside seams which continue to ‘eat away’ the metal. It also requires a two-stage process.

So when we discovered blast cleaning, we found it to be the perfect solution. Our skilled blaster here in the north of England uses our specialist equipment which is needed to give the correct dry pressure required for the job.

Our skilled in house blaster can blast clean just about anything! We use either soda or a ground glass product – both of which are environmentally sound and when used correctly can clean rust and paint from any surface – one off objects as well as farming a vital part of the classic car restoration process.

Classic car blasting

Soda blasting is a non-damaging form of blast cleaning, so it can be used on many types of surfaces including aluminium, fibre-glass, masonry, wood, cast iron and wrought iron. It will bring metal back to ‘factory’ condition – we can even polish if that is what you require. Soda is inert and safe to use inside engine components, we always avoid it getting into moving parts but if it does no harm will be caused to them.

Alternatively, we can use ground glass. This is more abrasive and will remove rust and paint, and it leaves a good slightly rough surface which is ideal for etching and then bodywork products. This can be used on most of the same surfaces to remove rust but it is not suitable for use with aluminium.

Careful expert use enables us to clean back to the underlying materials without distortion. We can’t guarantee what we will find once blasted – socks, newspapers, lots and lots of filler, even magnets holding body panels together have been found. And that`s not to mention bodies that look as if they were created by Frankenstein!

Blasting

Unless you very specifically ask us not to we always etch coat blasted metal to protect it after the blast cleaning process. The etch that we use can be welded through.
We are only able to carry out the blast cleaning on site due to the size of the compressed air tank and cooler that we use – having said that we can blast anything that can be brought to our workshop – from boats to commercial vehicles – so our service is essentially nationwide.

Blast Cleaning

If you have a car, boat, piece of garden furniture or something else that you need blast-cleaning, get in touch with us today to see how we can help. Our soda and glass blastin services are all carried out on-site in our workshop in Saltburn, Yorkshire.

Sand blasting