This is a testimony that I got in my email awhile back from a customer, and I thought this conversation would be helpful.
Hello, I am Ron. My wife Janet made the order for me last night. Your
ebook, Glass Etching Secrets is great. Wish I could have found it sooner. How and what can I use to sandblast the back of mirrors? Basically, I want to remove only the coating down to glass finish to create an art image in clear part. Again Eric the book is great. My mind is on fire with ideals. Thanks, Ron.
Hi Ron, thanks for the nice compliments and for your purchase. I have etched the silver off the back of mirrors a few times, and it kind of depends on how thick the backing is.
I have used some mirrors which could be easily scratched off, and others wouldn’t even blast off with a sandblaster pressure of 40 psi. If it is tough to sandblast the silver backing off, you can do try two different things:
- One is to increase the air pressure or to sandblast the area longer.
- The second way is to use a larger sand media. As the grit size gets larger, the faster the items will be etched. The same principle applies when using higher pressures.
Also, determining whether to get a siphon or pressure pot sandblaster depends on the toughness of the silver backing. So its hard to give you a straight suggestion. I usually use a pressure pot, but siphon sandblasters will work for most mirrors.
Another thing, since you are working on the backside of the mirror, you would need to reverse (also known as flip or mirroring) the stencil design. The free software I show includes a function which will flip the design. If you need any help, let me know.
I hope this answers your questions, if not let me know.
-Eric
https://www.glassetchingsecrets.com
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