5 Best Sanders for Refinishing Furniture of 2024

If you fail to sand furniture before painting, it will lead to a sloppy paint job. Not only will it lack a beautiful and even finish, but if you don’t get that old and chipped paint out of the way, it will damage the new coat.

Even if you want to paint a furniture piece that wasn’t previously painted, you still have to sand the raw wood surface. After sanding furniture, your new coat of paint is likelier to stick to the surface.

While sanding furniture with a sander takes minutes, it can take hours to do it by hand. That’s because, even with the proper sanding technique, you will feel fatigued and need to stop and rest constantly. These frequent breaks will increase the time it takes to sand a furniture piece.

Two important factors that can expand this time are the size of the furniture, and how deteriorated the old paint coat is. Sanding a small bathroom cabinet doesn’t take as long as sanding an entire wooden door.

It is also faster to sand a raw and unpainted nightstand than to sand a shed table with cracked and chipped paint.

The best way to tell if furniture has been sanded enough is to touch the surface. Non-sanded wood will be rough to the touch. Also, if you notice that the surface you are sanding shows signs of scratches, you must stop sanding.

This process involves removing just the right amount of surface material to prep the wood for staining, priming, or painting. It can help if you use a light shined on the surface at an angle. This will help you spot imperfections and see where to sand some more.

Unless you use a liquid sander, you must prime your furniture after sanding. Cleaning the surface once you’re done sanding is very important.

All that dust and debris should never get caught in your paintbrush or underneath your spray paint coat. If it does, your paint job will be sloppy.

For the prepping part itself, you can use a spray primer.

If you have little-to-no experience painting wood, a spray primer will result in a thin and even coat, and the paint job will look amazing. Brush-on primers are also good but require more patience and a steady hand for even coats.

Remember the golden rule of priming: you always want the coats to be thin. When you’re done applying the first coat, you should barely be able to see the primer at all. You can begin applying the second coat once the first is fully dry.

Sanding furniture (especially indoors) can be messy, and you’re left with a lot to clean up after. Thankfully, a few tricks make this cleaning job easier for you.

When sanding a piece of furniture, use plastic sheeting to cover the ground beneath it.

If you’re sanding a cabinet mounted on the wall and can’t/don’t want to take it down, cover whatever is beneath it with plastic sheets. This way, you can prevent sanding residue from getting everywhere.

If sanding with a power tool, look for one with a dust collection system. Some sanders have holes that collect this residue as you go along the furniture.

Alternatively, you can use a regular vacuum cleaner and position it close to the sanding area. It’s best to ask for someone’s help so you can have both hands free for sanding.

It also helps if you clean as you go along instead of waiting to finish and cleaning up after. As you sand, pause to remove any sanding residue from the surface of the wood. This prevents more of it from getting everywhere around you.

When you’re done sanding a piece of furniture, two extra steps are needed before you can paint it. The first step implies cleaning the sanded surface. Any dust and debris left on the furniture will mess up the paint job.

The next step is applying primer. As mentioned above, spray primer is better because it’s easier to use in thin coats.

Depending on your furniture’s wood, you should sand it again once the primer is cured. Primer may cause the wood grain to rise, and fine-grit sandpaper can help fix the problem.