Hi Alex,
In the context of wet blasting using a standard pressure cleaner..
The size of the media determines how fast you can remove finishes. I think the soda might work OK for metal that was bare. (I'm assuming it is fine stuff.. Finer than glass beads) It would be kind of like using 400 grit paper that could reach into very small pits pockets in the metal and root things out. Regular sand would need to be used for removing paint/undercoating of course. You are going to end up using phosphoric acid after the wet blasting so reaching into pits,etc isn't as important. It was neat to see the giant air rig in one of your links. I was mailed a pot style advertisement that you used with a pressure washer.
His and Herz,
Thanks! I figured that making such a page might help someone. It would have helped me 20 years ago when I started playing with paint.
Just curious about your wet sandblasting tryout... Was it on a Z fender or a thicker skinned part? (My 57 Chevy fenders could take anything I threw at them) Did you run your hand/palm across the fender before and after cleaning? I had a Z hood that was straight until I used my pressure pot sandblaster on both sides. When I ran my hand across it after stripping it was waaaay wavy. Had the same thing happen with a couple other spots. It's funny how sandblasting can seemingly "suck" the metal out towards you.
It might be that you had a weak pressure cleaner which didn't exert too much force. Was it one of the 1500 psi/1.5GPM models. Using one of those with a 4GPM tip in your wet blaster would be fairly gentle. Maybe you found something:)