Removal and profile, in one pass.
Media driven by compressed air does two jobs at once. It strips the coating, rust or scale off, and it cuts an anchor profile — measured in mils — that the next coating mechanically grips. Clean without profile is an incomplete spec.
Coating datasheets call out both a cleanliness standard and an anchor profile
Media
| Media | Aggressiveness | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Coal / copper slag | High ~7.5 Mohs | Fast, economical single-use strip and etch |
| Garnet | High ~7.5–8 | Low dust, recyclable, low free silica |
| Crushed glass | Medium 5–6 | Silica-free, recycled, economical stripping |
| Aluminum oxide | Very high 8–9 | Sharp, reusable, fast etch and profile |
| Steel shot / grit | Very high | Grit strips at 2–4 mil profile; shot peens and polishes |
| Soda | Very low ~2.5 | Non-destructive, water-soluble, no profile |
| Walnut / corn cob | Low | Delicate stripping without cutting |
What your customers write into a spec
| Standard | What it means |
|---|---|
| SSPC-SP 1 | Solvent clean. Degrease first, always — blasting over oil drives it in. |
| SSPC-SP 5 / NACE 1 | White metal. 100% free of everything. Immersion, tank linings. |
| SSPC-SP 10 / NACE 2 | Near-white. Staining on 5% or less. The marine workhorse. |
| SSPC-SP 6 / NACE 3 | Commercial. Staining under 33%. Most structural steel. |
| SSPC-SP 7 / NACE 4 | Brush-off. Loose material off, tight material can stay. |
| ICRI CSP 1–10 | Concrete surface profile for coatings and overlays. |
ISO equivalents: SP 5 ≈ Sa 3 · SP 10 ≈ Sa 2½ · SP 6 ≈ Sa 2 · SP 7 ≈ Sa 1
Right for
Wrong for
Wet vs dry. Wet blasting adds water at the nozzle for dust control, with matching standards — SP 10(WAB) / NACE WAB-2 — at the same cleanliness. The variable is flash rust, graded none to heavy and managed with inhibitors. Choose wet when dust cannot travel: occupied plants, adjacent equipment, silica or lead, spark risk.
Standards & compliance
Typical jobs
- Tank exterior to SP 10 before recoat
- Trailer frames and dump bodies
- Structural steel during a shutdown
- Barge deck prep
- Slab profiled to CSP 3 for epoxy
Questions we get
What SSPC standard do I need?
The coating specification decides. SP 10 is common for marine and industrial work, SP 6 for structural steel, SP 5 for immersion and tank linings.
Do you wet blast for dust control?
Yes, where dust cannot travel. Wet blasting has matching standards at the same cleanliness — the variable is flash rust, and the acceptable level is agreed before work starts.
Can you blast lead paint?
Lead changes the whole work plan: exposure assessment, respiratory protection, containment, hygiene facilities and characterized waste disposal, all before blasting starts.