I am looking to sandblast a lot of parts as well as my engine bay. I have done this before with play sand and a handheld blaster gun. Horrible. .. what material is best etc.... I saw a pressurized blaster and aluminum oxide blaster media, good place to start?

 

I just picked up a big blast cabinet from TP Tools. They have a lot of American made products. They have been and will be around for a long time so you will be able to get consumable items in the future. They also have all kinds of different blasting media. I do not know what kind of budget you have but good tools are never cheap.

 

nickel slag. easy clean up. $3 to $4 a 50lb bag. will clean any thing off. and holds up for a long time.

i use this on all the guns i make/build. before parkarizing.
leavs a nice clean surface to work with. clean off with air and clean rag.

 

I have used black beauty from tractor supply. It is around $7 for a 50lb bag and shreds off paint in a hurry. I believe it is coal slag available in a fine grit as well.

 

Black beauty works great on any hard steel like engine brackets frame but on body parts I use Dupont starblast and I never use play sand it has a lot of silca

 

I'll add my vote for black beauty/coal slag also. Works great, can be reused several times and it's CHEAP. I built my blast cabinet out of an old refrigerator and use the smaller of the 2 Harbor Freight pressurized blasters. It helps make up for my smallish(for blasting) 30gal air compressor.