The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop This may be in FAQ?

I am going to do some sandblasting using super fine sand / silica outdoors. Masks associated with painting are not in compliance for silica screening. What is a good mask to use for outside work? BW

I'd stay away from silica. There are a lot of relatively inexpensive non-silica blasting substances available. Much safer for your lungs.

I would also say stay away from silica. Though an article I read only linked problems to folks who were breathing it 8 hours a day for 15 years.
In other words long term exposure. There may be information to state the exact opposite too. I think some here have used playsand with good results. Do a search.

What are you trying to do with the sand blasting? If you are doing a frame and trying to get rid of rust aluminum oxide is much more effective than sand and pretty cheap. For paint only walnut shells, plastic media, or baking soda is good. Search around for warpage stories, though, since it is almost impossible to sandblast a panel without warping it. In some ways it is equivalent to shot peening only one side of a connecting rod.

A fresh air breathing mask is the only mask recommended for silica sand. Silica is particularly dangerous for sand blasting because so much dust is airborne. Do yourself a favor and choose another media.

After a bit of "Safety Research", I am backing away from using sand. I see that there are other media less hazardous. Silica also has the heat factor to consider - what about the aluminum oxide? Haven't found much to compare to sand. BW

I just purchased from TPTOOL an abrasive called speed bead. It is a combination of fine and course with alum oxide. TPTool list several different abrasives with a good discription of each on there web site. I just took out silca sand from a bench blaster that I am borrowing before it kills me. I used it a little bit and the silca sand made a big mess in the garage and it did not blast alum parts very good.

I wouldn't blast inside a garage regardless of what media you use. All that paint and stuff you are removing contains lead and cadmium and other nasty crap, and the blast media gets everywhere. You don't want to breathe it or ingest it. Do it outside where you won't have it getting into your lungs or home ventilation system.