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Blasting media buying guide

Updated: 21.10.2026

You are about to order a first bag for a cabinet or a small gun, and every result calls itself blasting media. Decide the job, then the material, then the particle size, then the pack, and only then the price. Sharp sand is not a cheap shortcut, even for one bracket. This blasting media buying guide uses amazon.co.uk prices captured on 19 October 2026 by the Products Compared editorial team. The live table is the [blasting media comparison](/hub/compressors/blasting-media). We read the listings and the review notes. We did not blast a panel in a lab. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

You are about to order a first bag for a cabinet or a small gun, and every result calls itself blasting media. Decide the job, then the material, then the particle size, then the pack, and only then the price.

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.Name the job and the place you will blast
  2. 2.Pick the material, not a brand
  3. 3.Match size and pack to the nozzle and the recovery
  4. 4.What to check on the amazon listing
  5. 5.Questions before you order

Name the job and the place you will blast

Three jobs get mixed in one basket: keying steel so paint will hold, cleaning aluminium to a satin, or shifting scale on a gate that will not fit in a cabinet. For open blasting, HSE sheet CN7 expects an air-fed helmet with an assigned protection factor of at least 40, not a dust mask.

Pick the material, not a brand

Angular media cut a profile. Round media peen a satin. Airblast Products put it near 9 Mohs, a mineral figure, not a test of these pouches. Glass bead is the round shot for aluminium or brass. Crushed glass is angular and usually single-use, so it is not bead. sandblasters.co.uk put the cabinet choice in two lines: aluminium oxide if you will paint, glass bead for aluminium and softer metals. The only glass bead is the Sealey B5KG, 5 kg, 180–300 microns, at £26.20. If you are still between those two families, use aluminium oxide or glass bead before you add a grit number.
Garosa Garosa aluminium oxide, 100 grit

Testsieger

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

Match size and pack to the nozzle and the recovery

Coarser angular grit cuts heavy rust and thick paint. One UK review of a 120 grit oxide pouch said it would not take paint off a wheel. Key Abrasives point at F70 for motorbike frame restoration and at F54, or F100 if the paint is already off, for alloy wheels. The number on the pouch is blasting media grit size. Ribble Technology’s trade sacks, plus VAT and carriage, were about £37 for brown oxide and £15 for garnet. Laeto, titled 0.5–1.5 mm at £29.99, has a review saying the grit looked closer to 1–2 mm and would not feed.

What to check on the amazon listing

Spacnana at £18.06 prints both 100 grit and 120 grit. Laeto says recycled glass and 25 kg in the title, silicon carbide in a field, and 2,500 g in the unit count. The Sealey title says 5 kg, the item weight says 4.71 kg, and more than one review says the tub arrived split. Two reviewers of the Garosa 220 grit pouch say the fill was short of 1 kg. Wakects 80 grit at £16.59 has no customer-reviews line at all.

Questions before you order

Sharp sand is not acceptable because the cabinet door is shut. COSHH 2002, Schedule 2, prohibits sand or any other free-silica substance as an abrasive in blasting apparatus. Call a professional for vehicle structures, possible lead paint, work near other people, or blasting done as a business without a COSHH assessment. If the bag is already chosen, the next page is how to use blasting media.

Common questions

What should I buy for a first cabinet load?
Buy the mineral for the next process, in a size your nozzle will pass, as a small pack until that grade has worked on scrap. For steel you will coat, that is angular oxide, coarser than the 180–220 labels if the rust is heavy. For a satin on aluminium, it is glass bead. A 1 kg oxide pouch here is about £17 to £20. Move to a larger bag only after the grade is right, and do not start with sand.
Is sharp sand acceptable if I only do one bracket?
No. COSHH 2002 Schedule 2 prohibits sand, or any other free-silica substance, as a blasting abrasive in any blasting apparatus. One bracket still makes the dust. HSE sheet CN7 says not to use sand and treats under 1 percent silica as the pragmatic meaning of silica-free. A closed cabinet does not make sand acceptable. Choose oxide, bead, crushed glass or garnet.
Do I need 1 kg or 25 kg?
Buy 1 kg while you are still proving the grade in a cabinet you can recover. Buy 25 kg when you already know the grade and you will use that much. These oxide pouches are about £17 to £20 per kilogram. A trade 25 kg bag is a different sum, plus VAT and carriage. Open work wants an expendable sack, not a tiny pouch you cannot sweep up.
What if the listing grit and the specification disagree?
Skip that listing. In this set one title prints 100 grit and 120 grit, and another says recycled glass in the title and silicon carbide in a field, with 25 kg and 2,500 g both present. You cannot know which line was packed. A single star from one review does not settle it. Choose a page where the material, the size and the kilograms say the same thing.
When is soda the right buy instead?
Soda is right for glass, rubber, chrome or trim, where a cut profile would ruin the part. It is single-use and leaves no key for paint, so it is the wrong bag for rusty steel you intend to coat. None of the eight listings here is soda, so that buy sits outside this table. A higher price per kilogram is not a better grit either: the £19.99 pouch is the one a review could not strip wheel paint with.

Related pages

Best blasting media

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)