Beijing Olympics

Wow! An impressive show by the Chinese with these 2008 Olympics. Many of the controls the government put in place to control pollution (stopping construction, closing factories, significantly reduced traffic) seemed to work - although a couple days of well 'placed' rain also helped.

A couple of random thoughts now that we are beyond these Olympic games:

• China spent A LOT of money on these games. While impressive, most of this $$$ came from western countries buying less expensive Chinese goods (one individual purchase at a time) leading, of course, to China's continuing economic growth. Is this really best for our local and global economies?


• Construction and factories were shut down across China to reduce horrible pollution for two weeks. Now that the Chinese have seen what a blue sky looks like again, I wonder if there will be any continuation of this environmental policy. If the Chinese return to the pre-games norm, I suspect that pricing and supply pressures on many materials (Aluminum Oxide, Silicon Carbide and Steel among many others) will be back in full force along with the pollution it generates.

London 2012 has a very tough act to follow. I hope that the world has learned important lessons about balancing the environment, global trade policies and individual consumption to springboard our (collective) path towards a better future.

Blast Cleaning Steel - Pictures

I posted some information a few weeks ago about using Crushed Glass Grit to strip/clean steel. Here are some before and after pictures using Coarse Crushed Glass Grit on a cast iron part to remove some moderate to heavy rust. The total blast time was less than one minute and the total surface area is about 1 cubic foot.

Blast Cleaning Steel

Historically, steel has been blasted using silica sand. For obvious health reasons (potential silicosis hazard), silica is not a safe media to use. Many industrial contractors, municipalities and military facilities are now using Crushed Glass Grit to blast steel.

Crushed Glass Grit will remove paint, dirt, soils and rust leaving a 'white' metal surface. Depending on the grit size used, a micro-finish can be achieved so that the steel can be immediately primed and painted with no further preparation.

Produced from recycled bottle (mostly) glass, Crushed Glass Grit contains no free silica, heavy metals and is approved in many of the most stringent air quality districts. Crushed Glass Grit is also considered a green blasting media since it is 'neutral' to the environment.