I've shot wood with shells and abrasives. I find a similar effect., I think it's mostly up to the type of wood. There are better ways than blasting to distress a customer's wood. I worked in a cabinet shop once and we would beat them with a chain, the cabinets, not the customers.

 

med fine walnut shell at moderate pressure. should be easy to control erosion since you aren't having to remove coating or stain

 

Still, all you can really control is how much of the soft pith you remove. It barely touches the grain and you can end up with 1/8" groves. Depends what the customer finds acceptable. Might be better to run along the grain with sixty grit paper to rough it up.

 

We have cleaned old beams , non painted, just cleaning.

We have used soda and glass, in the end, glass works best over all for price and performance.

Med cuts to fast, fine worked out better.

Found on soft wood like pine etc... We put on a psi regulator and a number # 4 nozzle, start at 40 psi and go up till we find the right psi and grit.

On hard wood like mahogany, with paint! #4 nozzle at about 60 psi grit running at normal flow would great, sand after and it looked new.

Done many boats and house beams, got to play with your psi and grit.
My Marco pot, the max and air valve runs on 50 psi, I had to by pass this with a direct connection to air before it was cut down to the pot. Then you can run 20 psi in the pot with the trigger psi running the same with no problem....

 

Fine walnut shell grit (20-40 mesh) at the right pressure should remove the faster growth grain and leave the harder winter grain minimally impacted. The challenge is determining just the right pressure for the wood you are blasting.

 

millwork company got back to me, they like my work, he said mine was more refined than the work they were doing. they are happy but its up to the customer and the architect now. 12000' of wood is what there looking to blast

 

Hope you get! Good luck

 

Did this today with Walnut shells.