Working with U.S. Navy Norfolk on a new method of removing paint from Navy submarines, retired President of Composition Materials Co., Inc. talks about developing Walnut Shell Blasting in the 1960’s. The Navy had been refurbishing ship hulls using abrasive mineral grit that removed all of the layers of paint and coatings down to bare steel, which proved costly. Ted Diamond introduced Walnut Shells which removed the top coatings of paint while leaving the valuable undercoating intact. This innovation offered the Navy significant savings in time and money, and helped pioneer environmentally-friendly paint removal.
Today, Composition Materials is one of the leading worldwide suppliers of Walnut Shell.