Granite .......... Illustrated Architecture Dictionary
Sandblasting
Detail - Floor sample at Stone Art Memorial Co.A blast of air or steam laden with sand, used to clean, grind, cut, or decorate hard surfaces, as of glass, stone, or metal.
Sandblasting is a general term used to describe the act of propelling very fine bits of material at high-velocity to clean or etch a surface.
Sandblasting is primarily used for two somewhat different applications. The first of these is to clean a surface of anything that may be clinging to it. The second is to either etch or carve designs or words into glass or a similar material.
Sand used to be the most commonly used material, but since the lung disease silicosis is caused by extended inhalation of the dust created by sand, other materials are now used in its place. Any small, relatively uniform particles will work, such as steel grit, copper slag, walnut shells, powdered abrasives, even bits of coconut shell.
A sandblasting setup usually consists of three different parts: the abrasive itself, an air compressor, and a blaster nozzle.
- WiseGeek (online Nov. 2012)
Sandblasting Cemetery Memorials
Computer custom cut rubber stencil printer.
Photo taken at Stone Art Memorial Co., 914 Ridge Road, Lackawanna, NY.
Computer custom cut rubber stencil on top of a polished granite memorial. The cut out areas will be sandblasted.
Photo taken at Stone Art Memorial Co., 914 Ridge Road, Lackawanna, NY.
Sandblasting setup at Stone Art Memorial Co.
The gravestone about to to be sandblasted is the brightly lit rectangle inside the chamber.
Note cream color piece of equipment at far right, which is illustrated below.
The gravestone about to to be sandblasted. The rubber stencil is taped onto the front. The cutout areas (yellow) will be sandblasted.
Sandblaster. Compressor not shown.
Sandblaster compressor.
Blaster nozzle where sand or other abrasive, like aluminum, shoots out at high velocity.
Sandblasting at Stone Art Memorial Co., Frank Lohr, operator.
Examples from Buffalo:
