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Best blasting media

Updated: 21.10.2026

Best blasting media is useless until you name the job. The same bag is not the pick for steel you will paint, for aluminium you want satin, and for a gate you will blast once in the yard. This page gives one pick for each job, and a person who should skip it. Prices stay on the [blasting media comparison](/hub/compressors/blasting-media). The Products Compared editorial team read the amazon.co.uk listings on 19 October 2026 and did not run a blast test. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Sand is never the pick.

Best blasting media is useless until you name the job. The same bag is not the pick for steel you will paint, for aluminium you want satin, and for a gate you will blast once in the yard.

Our top picks

Garosa Garosa aluminium oxide, 100 grit

Best overall

Garosa Garosa aluminium oxide, 100 grit
7.3/10about £19.29
View offer
Sealey Sealey B5KG glass beads, 5 kg

Rank 2

Sealey Sealey B5KG glass beads, 5 kg
8.0/10about £26.20
View offer
Garosa Garosa aluminium oxide, 120 grit

Alternative

Garosa Garosa aluminium oxide, 120 grit
6.5/10about £19.99
View offer
On this page
  1. 1.Best for steel you will coat
  2. 2.Best for aluminium and bare satin
  3. 3.Best when you cannot sweep it up
  4. 4.What to skip

Best for steel you will coat

The pick is angular brown aluminium oxide, coarse enough to cut the rust and leave a key. sandblasters.co.uk put it that way for cabinets: oxide if you will paint. Airblast Products describe brown oxide as hard and angular, around 9 Mohs, and as a media cabinets recycle. One UK review of the Garosa 120 grit pouch, £19.99 and 4.1 from 12 reviews, says it would not strip paint off a wheel.

Best for aluminium and bare satin

The pick is glass bead. It is round, so it peens and cleans instead of cutting a deep profile. Shape is aluminium oxide or glass bead. The only bead in this set is the Sealey B5KG, 5 kg of 180–300 micron beads at £26.20, rated 4.4 from 84 reviews. More than one review says the tub arrived split, and the weight lines do not all say 5 kg. Skip bead if heavy corrosion still has to be cut, or if paint needs a tooth.
Garosa Garosa aluminium oxide, 100 grit

Testsieger

Garosa Garosa aluminium oxide, 100 grit
7.3/10about £19.29
View offer

Best when you cannot sweep it up

The pick is an expendable angular grit: crushed recycled glass, or garnet if you can buy it. Crushed glass cuts more like oxide and breaks down, so suppliers treat it as single-use. Ribble Technology’s trade list, plus VAT and carriage, had 25 kg garnet near £15, against about £37 for brown oxide. The only sack here is Laeto, titled as recycled glass, 0.5–1.5 mm, 25 kg, at £29.99. A field says silicon carbide, the unit count says 2,500 g, and the only review says the grit looked like 1–2 mm and would not feed the machine. This ASIN is what to refuse. Open blasting is the HSE case for an air-fed helmet, not a paper mask. If the coating may contain lead, hire the blaster.

What to skip

Skip silica sand and sharp sand. COSHH 2002 Schedule 2 prohibits sand or other free-silica material as an abrasive in blasting apparatus. HSE sheet CN7 says not to use sand, and it treats under 1 percent silica as the pragmatic line. Skip 220 grit, and usually 120 grit, as a heavy stripper. The Garosa 220 grit pouch is £17.37 and 3.6 from 9 reviews, with two reviewers saying the bag was light. One buyer used it in a vapour blaster on aluminium. Skip a title that prints two grit numbers. Spacnana does that at 100 and 120, on 5.0 from a single review with no text. Skip Wakects at £16.59 when you need reviews. If the bag is already chosen, read how to use blasting media next.

Common questions

What is the best media for rust that I will paint?
Angular oxide, or crushed glass or garnet if you cannot recover it, coarse enough to cut. Cabinet suppliers talk about the coarser FEPA bands, not a 220 grit pouch. In this set a 120 grit review already says the powder would not strip wheel paint. Buy oxide for the key, and buy it coarser than the fine pouches if the rust is heavy. Bead will clean and will not cut that key.
What is the best media for aluminium I want to look clean?
Glass bead, in a cabinet, at a pressure you can keep steady. The only bead here is the Sealey 5 kg tub of 180–300 micron beads, with 84 reviews and split tubs in the comments. It is the reviewed option for a satin clean, not a certificate. Oxide cuts a duller matte and can be right if you will coat the aluminium. It is the wrong pick if the bare satin is the finish.
Is crushed glass good enough outside?
Yes, as an expendable angular grit for a one-off, if the particle size will pass the nozzle and you treat the dust as open blasting. It is not a substitute for bead. Laeto is the sack in this set, and its material, weight and size lines conflict, so do not treat that ASIN as the approved bag. Garnet is the other outdoor mineral, and it is not in these eight listings. Do not use sand because the job is outside.
Is the cheapest 1 kg pouch the best value?
No. The lowest shelf price is the Wakects 80 grit pouch at £16.59, and the saved listing has no reviews. Among 1 kg oxide with one grit line, a pack the reviews do not dispute, and at least 10 reviews, the Garosa 100 grit at £19.29 is the value pick in this set. That is a rule for a trial pouch, not a claim that 100 grit strips heavy rust. A 25 kg trade bag is cheaper per kilogram once you know the grade.
Why is 120 grit a poor best-rust pick?
Because it is a fine label, and one UK review of the Garosa 120 grit pouch says the powder would not strip paint off a wheel. Fine oxide can matte a surface that is already bare. It is a weak choice for thick coatings. Coarser trade grades, around F36 to F70, are what cabinet notes point at for frames. A seller’s 120 grit is also not a FEPA F120 certificate.

Related pages

Blasting media buying guide

Blasting media

Aluminium oxide or glass bead for the next process

Blasting media grit size, mesh, microns and F grades

How to use blasting media without blocking the gun

Sources

Public UK sources from the research digest. Listing prices, stars and review counts are the amazon.co.uk figures captured on 19 October 2026.

  1. COSHH 2002, Schedule 2 (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  2. HSE CN7: Abrasive blasting (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  3. HSE: Silicosis and the silica WEL (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  4. HSE HSG201: Abrasive blasting (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  5. Key Abrasives: Aluminium oxide (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  6. Airblast Products: Blast media (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  7. Ribble Technology: Blasting media (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  8. sandblasters.co.uk: Media for a blast cabinet (retrieved 19 October 2026)