How to Sand Blast Wood

• 1). Put on all protective gear: pants, long-sleeve shirt, goggles and carpenter's mask.
  
  
• 2). Seal the wood with a wood sealer. This can help prevent splinters from forming where wood is being blasted or pulled against the grain of the wood.
  
  
• 3). Prepare your "resist mask." This is an adhesive material that protects the wood from erosion. With the X-acto knife, cut the template of the design out of the masking material. Apply it to the wood with a wallpaper roller, then a heat gun. This ensures a secure seal that won't come up when you are blasting.
  
  
• 4). Prepare your sandblaster.
  
  Add the silica sand to the holding container. Set the sandblaster between 80 to 85 psi. More than this is too strong.
  
  
• 5). Blast the design as laid out in the template mask. Be aware at how deep you are blasting and keep it consistent between 3/8 and 1/2 inches. This is deep enough to have contrast against the primary layer.
  
  
• 6). Pull away the mask. Be careful to pull with the grain of the wood. If you don't, you may start to peel wood strips off. If this is happening, pull the mask off in the opposite direction.
  
  
• 7). Reseal or paint the sign as desired.