A Cornish business for Cornish work
Many of the laser cleaning firms you will find advertising in Cornwall are based over the border, and some much further away. That matters more here than almost anywhere. The county is long and narrow, the A30 and A38 are the only quick roads, and a job in Penzance is a long way from Plymouth. A contractor driving in from Devon either charges for that time or squeezes the work to make up for it.
We are based in St Austell, in the middle of the county. Truro, Newquay and Bodmin are close, Falmouth and the clay country are next door, and even Land’s End and Bude are a morning’s drive rather than a day’s. That keeps travel a small part of the price, and it means we can come back for the second half of a job, or a second machine, without it costing you a second long trip.
What Cornish air does to metal
Nowhere in Cornwall is far from the sea, and salt-laden air finds its way into every yard, barn and boat shed. Steel that would rust slowly inland goes quickly here, galvanising gives up sooner, and paint lifts at every chip and edge. The damp does the rest: much of the year, metal left bare overnight will show a bloom of fresh rust by morning.
That shapes how we work. A laser leaves bare, dry, clean metal, which is exactly what primer wants, but it will not stay that way for long in a Cornish winter. So before we start we agree when the primer goes on, and on old coastal machinery we talk about salt. Rust can be taken off the surface in minutes, but salt that has sat in the bottom of old pits for years will keep working under new paint if it is not dealt with. On boat fittings and anything that has lived near the shore, a salt wash or treatment before priming is often worth the extra step.
Weather matters on the day too. The machine and its electrics have to stay dry, and so does the metal we have just cleaned. In rain we work under cover, in a shed, under a lean-to or beneath a gazebo over the job. If the forecast is wrong and there is no cover, we would rather rebook than hand back work that has flash-rusted before you can get paint on it.
Farms and agricultural contractors
Cornish farming runs on machinery that works hard in wet, salty conditions and gets very little time off. Dairy and beef units across the middle of the county, vegetable and flower growers on the warmer coastal land in the west, and the contractors who serve them all, depend on trailers, muck spreaders, toppers, feeders, gates and handling equipment that rust from the bottom up. The winter is usually when there is time to deal with it, and a laser lets you deal with it in your own yard.
What makes laser useful on farm kit is that it can work close to the things blasting would ruin: bearings, hydraulic rams and hoses, wiring looms, seals and grease points. Rather than stripping a machine down or masking everything, the rust and failing paint can be cleaned off around them and the metal primed. On the big flat panels of a trailer body, blasting may still be quicker and cheaper, and we will say so. Many customers have us do the chassis, the joints and the awkward areas, and wire back or blast the rest.
Boatyards, harbours and the fishing fleet
From Newlyn and Penzance to Falmouth, Mylor and Penryn, and round to Padstow, Fowey, Mevagissey and Looe, Cornwall works off its harbours. Fishing boats carry winches, gantries, haulers and deck fittings that live in salt water, and leisure craft come out every autumn for lay-up with engines, keels, rudder stocks, stanchions and trailers that need attention before spring.
Laser suits a boatyard because it brings no grit into the yard: nothing to sweep out of the hard standing, nothing in the drains and nothing blown onto the boat next door. Stainless fittings can be cleaned of rust staining and tea staining, mild steel fittings taken back to metal for priming, and engine parts cleaned without abrasive anywhere near them. We need the yard’s agreement to work on site, a dry place for the machine and space for the screens. Or bring fittings and small parts to us in batches.
The clay country, quarries and plant
Around St Austell the clay works, quarries and the groundworks and haulage firms that serve them run heavy plant: excavators, dumpers, crushers, screens and attachments. That is home territory for us, and for Mick’s own background in groundworks. Buckets, quick hitches, booms and chassis rails can be cleaned back to metal for inspection or repainting, and grime and rust can be taken off around pins and hydraulics without filling them with abrasive. Where a machine needs a full repaint across large panels, blasting will usually be quicker, and we will tell you which parts are worth doing with the laser.
Mining heritage, gates and old ironwork
Cornwall’s mining past left iron everywhere: gates, railings, brackets, pump and engine house fittings, and the decorative ironwork of the towns that the mines built. Much of it carries generations of paint, and some of it sits on listed buildings or in conservation areas. Laser is often the gentlest way to take rust and old paint off ironwork that cannot be replaced, because it works on the coating and leaves the metal and its detail where they are.
Two things always come first on historic ironwork. Whether the work needs listed building consent is for the owner to check with Cornwall Council before we start. And paint that old is very likely to contain lead, so we check, and plan the controls or a different method if it does.
Restorers, collectors and the rally season
Vintage tractors, stationary engines, classic cars and motorbikes are a big part of the Cornish summer, from small club runs to the big steam and vintage shows. Most of the work behind them happens in sheds and garages over the winter, which is when restorers want their parts cleaned. Laser suits restoration because it is selective: casting marks, stampings, part numbers and the original surface survive, where blasting would soften them and grinding would take them off. Save up a project’s small parts and we will do them in one visit, or bring them to us.
Planning around the Cornish year
Most of our Cornish work follows the seasons. On farms, the quiet months between harvest and spring are when machines come into the shed and the rust gets dealt with, so autumn and winter book up first. In the boatyards, boats come out for lay-up in the autumn and need to be ready for fit-out in the spring, which makes late winter the crunch. Restorers work through the winter for the summer rallies. And in high summer, harbours, car parks and lanes are busy with visitors, so harbour-side and town-centre work is easier booked outside the school holidays.
None of that is a rule, and a job can be done in any month with dry cover. But if you know a machine or a boat will need doing, tell us early. It lets us group your job with others nearby, which keeps the travel part of the price down, and it means you are not waiting in the busy weeks when everyone else has remembered too.
What to send us
The fastest, most accurate quote comes from photos. A few on WhatsApp tell us more than a long description, and they let us say straight away if laser is not the right tool. What helps most:
- one photo of the whole item, so we can see its size and shape;
- two or three close-ups of the worst areas, showing how thick the rust or paint is;
- something for scale in one of them, such as a tape measure, a glove or a boot;
- a word on what the metal is, if you know, and roughly how old the paint might be;
- the postcode, and whether there is power and somewhere dry to work.
From that we can usually give a price range and a likely length of job, and agree whether a test patch is worth doing first. Once the test patch is done, the price is firm.
Getting to you
We cover the whole of Cornwall as standard. Travel is worked out from the job’s postcode and included in the price you are quoted, and grouping jobs in the same area on the same day keeps it down for everyone.
Mid Cornwall
St Austell, Truro, Newquay, Bodmin, Fowey, Mevagissey, Lostwithiel, St Columb. Home ground. Short notice is often possible, and half days work well because there is little travel to pay for.
West Cornwall
Falmouth, Penryn, Redruth, Camborne, Hayle, Helston, St Ives, Penzance, the Lizard. Regular trips. Grouping jobs on the same day keeps travel down, so tell us if a neighbour has work too.
North Cornwall
Padstow, Wadebridge, Camelford, Port Isaac, Boscastle, Bude. Covered as standard. Full days suit the far north coast best, with an early start.
East Cornwall
Liskeard, Looe, Polperro, Callington, Saltash, Torpoint, Launceston. Covered as standard, and often combined with work across the Tamar in Plymouth.
Plenty of Cornish lanes are narrow and some yards are tight, so tell us if access is awkward and we will plan the setup. The machine, screens and extractor all go in a van, and we need a few metres round the work for the controlled area.
Keeping your site safe while we work
The laser we use is a Class 4 industrial laser, so wherever we set up, whether that is a farmyard, a boat shed or a garage, we create a controlled area first. That means laser-safe screens round the work, warning signs at the edge, eye protection rated for the laser for anyone inside, and nobody else, including dogs, children and stock, coming in while it runs. The extractor sits beside the work and runs the whole time, collecting the dust and fume from the coating. Before we start on anything painted, we check for lead, because older paint on farm and harbour equipment often has it, and lead turned to fume needs extra controls or a different method. Everyone else on site can carry on outside the area as normal.
Across the Tamar
Work in Plymouth and West Devon is a short hop from East Cornwall and is often combined with jobs around Saltash, Torpoint and Callington. See laser cleaning in Devon for the Devon side, and how laser cleaning works and when it is the right tool for the detail on the method, its limits and safety on site. If you are thinking about buying a machine, see one working on your own parts first. Ready to go? Send us the details of the job.