Langley U Blast

Great people, service, price and result… Thanks Langley U-​Blast!

Listen, if I could give a 6-​star review, this would be it.
So, what is Langley U-​Blast? Well, for those who are unfamiliar with the craft of sandblasting, it’s a small shop where you can go and use all of their expensive (and professional) sandblasting equipment to strip, polish, blast, renew and restore ‘stuff’ — what kind of stuff? Metal, wood, plastic, brick, glass.
Sandblasting has typically been a highly industrial process, usually used to strip rust and old paint off metal things, as well as clean old brick. The entry level cost of sandblasting at home is quite high — a specialized cabinet, tools, air compressor and safety equipment make this not worthwhile for most people.
I’ve been slowly restoring an old BMW, and had a couple items I wanted to get powder-​coated; but to powder-​coat something requires the item to be clean and free of old paint, rust, etc.
I took a trip out to Langley today with a trunk full of automobile parts.
I was warmly greeted by one of the two owners, George. It’s clear he really enjoys helping people restore and clean up old stuff.
He got me all set up, showed me how the machinery worked, and off I went.
I can’t believe how great of a job these tools do! It literally took a valve cover which had hundreds of thousands of kilometers of baked on oil and grime and made it literally look like it had just been manufactured.
George was great; he showed me all the various media I could use to blast with (start with sand and move to glass beads to give the metal an incredible finish), and checked in often to see how I was making out. Pricing was reasonable — about $ 60 for an hour of sandblasting, which blasted 2 valve covers and a very complex-​shaped intake manifold.
I’m already looking around my place to see what else needs ‘restoring’.