Hi all, I'm hoping for some newbie tips, although I am not really a newbie, I feel like I have some big gaps in my knowledge.I really enjoy restoring old furniture, not for commercial purposes but for myself - I like finding stuff and making it look good again -particularly when it comes to old wood. I've done pretty good, without having the proper tools or knowledge, total beginners luck. I restored a very old (over 100 years) and damaged oak floor and large pieces of furniture. But I now have two projects that will be less brute force and more delicate.My overall question is what really is the key to good sanding of old furniture? Is it the right tools, the right grit, or the pressure you use? Specifically, I have old an library card catalog. Most of the varnish is long gone, it's almost bare wood (oak i think), but it's been written on (which has been removed by first 80 grit, then smoothed with 125) but I am having a hard time getting into the little recessed inlay on the sides and knowing what tools to use for the smaller details. Obviously an orbital sander is too large, but the smaller one is very touchy, and a test run with it resulted in me marking up the wood even more. I tried with sandpaper by hand and that seemed to work the best, but that gave me a lot of time to think about what people who actually KNOW stuff would do and I wanted to ask here.The next project is a pair of old midcentury teak armchairs. The cushions have already been sent away for reupholstering which puts the pressure on me now to figure out how to renew the frames (which are mostly roundish). How would you approach this??TLDR question: in restoring old furniture what tools do you use, how do you choose them, what grit sandpaper, and what can make or break a good sanding? via /r/DIY http://ift.tt/2vKFJmB
