i am considering restoring Ford 602 picker to go with 1961 ford 6000 with 1706 original hours.too much to hand sand but too thin to sand blast any help from someone who has restored a mounted picker.any and all help would be appreciated
i've seen on that "American Restoration" show they use a special sand blaster that uses crushed walnut shells... idk how accessible that machine would be though.
From the research I've done you can use most "alternative" media, with a good pressure blaster, with the exception of soda blasting that will require a special blaster to get the most out of the media. I bought an 80 cfm gas compressor and a small blaster a year ago and haven't really got to use them, a friend of mine has used the blaster with "black beauty" or coal slag on sheet metal with good results.
Also it depends on if you have to remove a lot of rust or just old paint. If you are just removing paint you could use a chemical stripper. I used to help a guy that restored antique aircraft and he used some stuff that looked like orange pulp, ate through paint and latex gloves like nothing.
That goes for media blasting as well if you don't have much rust you could use a softer media like corn cobs or walnut shells and spot sand or blast any rust areas. Or treat them with an rust converter.
For thin metal projects I or we have used a Hotsy washer with a sand blasting attachment. It does a good job without all the pressure that can warp metal. Just use regular sand blasting sand. It will use more than a regular blaster though.
