sand blasting????????

have my scamp stripped down to the bare bones and ready to start the body work. wana start with a clean slate and take her down to the bare metal. have been plannin on taken it to a local media blaster(the only one around) but when i talked 2 him on the phone he couldnt even give me a rough estimate on a price and was like "just drop it off and it'll be done in a few weeks" Anyway wasnt to impressed with that so im thinkin bout renting a sand blaster and doin it myself. ive heard sand blasting gets too hot and can warp the sheet metal. but if thats the case what did they do before all this other media got popular. has anyone done it themselves or have any advise. thanks!!