I want to give a big thanks to a fellow HAMBER "CJ Steak" Chris came through in a big way, he blasted my hood, fenders and inner wheel wells. and did a super job. Quick turnaround, priced just right and was real careful with what I gave him. He gave em back to me right on time to have them epoxied. I took some before and after pics, but due to time constraints I didn't take pics of the clean metal, I wanted to get them primed asap, but the metal came back super clean.
Thanks alot for the compliments Rey. You had some super clean sheet metal from the get go though! It's been a while since I blasted anything from the 50's that was THAT clean to begin with. It's usually bondo city. I actually took a few pics of your front clip after I was done blasting it for my portfolio. I think I may have accidentally left my digital camera on the trailer your fenders were sitting on though. We got over a half inch of rain at the ranch two days ago... not looking good for that camera LOL... I'm willing to work with any HAMBER that needs sandblasting. I don't want to over step my lines with Ryan though... so before I start "advertising" myself, i'm going to see about becoming a HAMB supporting vendor. True Grit: I actually did a job for a guy, who's shop is directly across from True Grit. I thought it was kind of wierd that he'd be going with me instead of True Grit and inquired about them. The guy said that TG went out of business around a year ago? I knew the guy that ran it and I thought he was pretty cool. He sold the business to a lady a few years back, and i'm not sure she really did anything with it. It just slowly faded away. If you go to their website and call the phone number it just rings... I was going to see about buying some of their equipment as back up for my own. I'll post some pics as soon as I get home.
Question: If you have some body panels that need work (maybe patch panels and dent repair) would you sandblast the whole panel, then seal ith with something, THEN give it to a body guy?
Yes! He'll thank you in his bill. I remember the lady that bought True Grit. I tried giving her some business when I bought my truck cab 2 years ago, but she wasn't in my ballpark. Doing chassis work for others, I know the deal with a "knowledgeable" DIY type and money, probably fit in there myself, but I do try to spend my money smartly. That means I like transmission mechanics and painters at any price. She had me seriously considering going into sandblasting. Chris, we need to talk. I got lots of rusty tin.
True grit was good, but the last time I used them was around 7 years ago, and they weren't chep then, either, but the job they did was great. looks like There is now a good replacement for a service many of us desperately need. CJ- do You only do sand? how about soda, media, black magic, the like? I always need something blasted that is bigger than I can handle by myself, and i am constantly looking for other options. The last time I sent something out to be blasted , it came home ruined. apparently, he didn't understand me when I said playground sand will RUIN a hood. Tell us more about the services You provide!
Basically that is what it comes down to for me, as a DYI I can only do so much, I wish I had that type of dough to just leave my car at a shop and 6 month later pick it up ready to go, that is crazy money there for sure. When I was alot younger and dumber, right out of college, new job, new money coming in I made the mistake of calling Jeff Lilly restorations, cause I had heard he was the best, and we wanted our vette worked on, well that was an eye opener. First question the guy asked was "What do you do for a living..." and you can guess how it went from there. I look back now and I can see why. "Restoring" cars is an expensive hobby. The most recent conversation with a painter friend of mine, and mind you he is a "friend" and does not have a big fancy shop, was, give me 3k plus material, bring me the Olds and we will get started on it, "how far will 3k get you?"... "it'll get us started" .......well my brother and I got it started. Material: $300 Beer: $25 Working on cars with your bro like old times: Priceless
Hey Cockeyeyedwallaby, I'll be upfront and honest with you here. I'm not a painter. LOL. I WISH I had the skills and equipment to be though. I'm a self proclaimed rattle canner though. If you have a small part like a fender or something like that, i'll primer it with the primer of your liking (rattle can) and will only charge you $1 dollar over the price of the primer per can. The extra dollar pays me for my time. So if it takes me 2 cans to do a fender for ya, it'll cost you 2 bucks more than if you did it yourself. I promise it won't look like camo either. It'll look like I sprayed it out of a gun. I've been rattle canning for a loooooong time. Just don't ask me to do a full on four door Caddy body. I blast super fast and most jobs are done the same day I get them. I can drop off jobs within a couple of hours of completing them to your bodyshop of choice, where they can primer larger projects quickly. The quick turnaround is so it doesn't sit around my shop and flash rust. Yo Scotty! LOL...I wish I thanked people with my bills... i'd be a helluva a lot richer! Eventhough this is a legitimate business that i've had for years, my actual income comes from my "day job" aka "boring job". I do this just to be a part of the Hotrod/Kustom community. I've undercharged so many jobs it makes me sick to look at my books sometimes... Definately let me know when you need something blasted. My prices aren't set and I quote by the job. The cleaner the metal the less it is. If it's got 6 foot of bondo all over it... yikes... but i'll work with ya... I feel you here... True Grit charged me 90 bucks to blast a Willys CJ2A oil bath air cleaner. It's about the size of a large coffee can... Good ol' play ground sand. It's cheap and horrible, and i've heard nothing but nightmares about it. I've never tried running it, because it's so irregular it'll screw with my machine. Disassembling my machine to clean out crap sand is no fun and takes a lot of time. I use #4 grit, triple screened, and sterilized sand. It is a true sand, but the grit is so small, it does NOT heat up like playground sand. If you look at the screen on your home's window... the grit is less than half the size of the little squares. Unless you live in a chicken coop hahaha... I guess half the size of chicken coop screens is about the size of a marble. Pretty much I run my business as simple as possible. I know this sounds bad, but it's kinda no "frills" for right now. I specialize in sandblasting and can do the "odd tasks" for people that need it, as long as I thinkg I can do a good job of it. I know alot of HAMBERS around here live in the Austin area, but I do offer FREE pickup and delivery if you're in Williamson county. If you're down in south Austin, I need a little gas money. Especially if it's a tiny job. If it's a huge job, then i'll more than likely toss in the pickup and delivery and will show up with my trailer. The frills will come when I can afford to leave the job i'm at and do this full time. "One day" I hope to have an acid dipping bay, sandblasting bay, and powdercoating bay... then expand into chroming... "one day..." Everyone's gotta have goals right?
Rey, Here's the pics I took of your project. Let me know if you need me to email them to you as well, or if you can grab them off of here. I only took a few pics of only half the parts. My camera ran out of memory and batteries simultaneously. Good times.
Crap... those pics are stupid huge. If anybody's computer gets screwed up because of it, PM me and i'll take 'em down and attempt to resize them. Unfortunately I'm not a compooter genuis...
The Jalopy Journal
