Double Liner Stencil Rolls: The Secret to Clean, Accurate Sandblasting

Sandblasting is an incredibly effective technique when it comes to imprinting your design on a variety of hard to carve surfaces. You’ll have seen examples of sandblasting in a variety of different locations from the frosting in the glass window of a downtown store to the engraving of names and pictures on tombstones in a nearby cemetery. Each of these projects will have been completed with the use of a sandblasting stencil.

What is a Sandblasting Stencil

A sandblasting stencil, also known as a sandblasting mask, is a piece of durable material that is stuck over the surface that you’re engraving or marking. When you switch on the sandblaster, the stencil protects those parts of the project that you don’t want blasted by the abrasive material. This allows to focus the stream of sand to exactly where it needs to be, giving you complete control over the design of your project. Sandblasting stencils are usually made from flexible material like vinyl or rubber which means you can carve or cut intricate designs and patterns to meet the needs of any project.

Single and Double Liner Stencil Rolls

Each sandblasting stencil will be cut from a longer piece of material known in the industry as a stencil roll. There are a couple of different options when it comes to stencil rolls. The first is single liner, which is where just one side of the stencil is covered in liner, a protective material. Single liner stencil rolls are best for projects on rough surfaces where you don’t mind the amount of adhesive that you need to use, and you’re looking for a solid grip. The other option is a double liner stencil roll, which as the name suggests has the protective liner on both sides of the roll. These stencil rolls are best for the double-blasting process to improve the accuracy of your design after the first blast is done to help keep the whole project neat and clean.

The Benefits of a Double Liner Stencil Roll

A double stencil roll is designed with double processing in mind. Double processing allows you to frost first and sink your lines second, saving you from having to fill your design with mud or sand. You just frost, blast, paint and you’re off. Since double processing has you frosting first, you need to be able to remove your designs from the stencil for the frosting step and add them back in exactly where they were in your original design. Our double-liner stencil roll allows you to do that with the following benefits:

  • Improved integrity – The key difference that you get with a double liner stencil is that both sides of the stencil adhere to different things. One side sticks to the rubber, and the other adheres to the stone that you’re working on. Think of the double liner as an intermediary that helps keep the integrity of the design intact. The double sided adhesion means that the stencil sticks to the substrate with no distortion to the overall image. This is important when you are removing a portion of the design for frosting during double processing or when you’re working with an irregular surface that might be hard to get a smooth final adhesion.
  • Improved control – When you talk about control in the stenciling world, you’re talking about how much the room the stencil has to move once you’ve placed it on the surface. When you’re dealing with single liner rolls, you get the stencil in place once, sink all your lines and then remove the stencil before finishing with the shaping and frosting. The second liner of the double liner stencil roll allows you to retail control of the overall design even during a double phase process. Allowing you to remove the central design during the frosting process and re-adhere it in perfect alignment during the second phase.

Working with U-Blast

Whether you need a double liner stencil roll or a single liner stencil, U-Blast can help you find the right product. Our team at U-Blast, knows that every project is unique, and that every client has their own preferences and procedures when it comes to partnering with a stencil supplier. This is why we put such importance on providing consistency, both in our products and in our customer service. When you work with us, you become part of our family and you’ll be able to tap into our years of expertise in sandblasting stencil rolls to make sure you get the right product for your project.

See our Double Liner stencil options