Needle Scalers

if the jobs done quick ,the local council doesnt turn up. I used to do sandblasting in the back yard,got so the crowd in the back street would ring the council soon as they heard the compressor start.

When the retainer ball breaks off those needles they make excellent scribes, O ring picks or mini chisels to get behind Torrington Bearings etc. Nice tough steel.
Cheers Stevee

I'm i Victoria, is Garnet easy to obtain, and what sort of cost per kilogram should I expect to pay?

Most paint places sell small bags ...about $1/kg.........I dunno how long a toy sandblaster goes ,but a big one will run for an hour on one ton of garnet.....Thats a worn 3/8 nozzle,and around 400cfm air at 125 psi.You could do a 40 ft container inside and out ,provided someone is turning it over for you....If you can recycle ,you lose about 1/3 of the garnet each pass.This much turns to dust......Black sand was the old standby here ,only downside ,is the black dust ....Just ask the neighbours.

Some funny black sand stories too...the stuff is heavy ,4 ton a cu mt.....we sent a new subbie to pick up a load from the sand place ,he asked for 5 meters from the bulk bin ......he had a single axle ACCO ,and it was kinda down on the springs when he turned up....When the sand contract was up on Stradbroke Island ,TNT beat Labbrokes who had been carting it with B615 s......old Cliff Ladbroke reckons half the TNT fleet of Kenworths was lying busted in the yard within 6 weeks ,the torsion bar couldnt hack the weight ,rough roads and fine abrasive sands .

We have great neighbours and had no issues when the blaster turned up and did 4 hours straight on the tractor. He told me that he buys his stuff online and I think it cam in from India so have a look along that track for a supplier. Tool shops also can sell the stuff but at a price that is usually not competitive. The mob I bought my blasting cabinet from looked at me strange when I said I didn't need any garnet. Well I did but not at that price. I'm sure they still think that the internet does not exist and that we can't find this stuff by ourselves.
Was the black sand 'rootile'? Using sand as your medium is a dangerous way to go as you will get dusted by silica which is up there will asbestos.