What sander will help me with this refinishing project?

[williaty]

My wife was just allowed to take home a heavy, solid oak office desk from her job. If you've been in any sort of American institutional (not the mental health context, I mean like big university, government office, etc) setting prior to about 1995, you know the sort of thing I'm talking about. There's a whole tree in the base and the robbed an aircraft carrier for the top. The construction is the typical panel-in-frame arrangement with flat panels recessed slightly into the frame, leaving a 1/4 reveal of the frame proud of the panel. It's finished in whatever clear shiny hard-as-nails-and-impossible-to-repair finish that was nearly universal on all 1960s-ish through 1990s-ish institutional furniture and it's got to come off.

I'm making the assumption that it won't succumb to a modern, low-toxicity gel-type chemical stripper and that I'll have to sand it off. I have an ETS 150/5 but with the recessed panels, I don't think that sander will help me get much done. The round pad won't go into the corners, won't work well towards the edge of the panels, and won't do a darned thing for me on the 1/4 reveals all around the frame. I'm looking at Festool's lineup of sanders and I'm confused about what sander actually would make the quickest work of the job.

The LS 130 at first seems like a contender because the 90* pad would effectively let me sand the reveal and the border of the panel in one pass (and then I can hit the big areas with the ETS 150/5). However, I don't know that it'll get into the corners of the panel and it's described as a finish sander so I don't know if it's even aggressive enough for the removal of the existing finish. It's also expensive.

The DTS 400 REQ seems like maybe it's a contender because it's described as useful for getting into corners. However, I have no idea if the orbital motion will constantly bounce the sander away from the edges (reveal and panel) leaving an unsanded stripe down each corner. With this sander as well, I don't know if it'll be aggressive enough to remove the existing finish. It, at least, is much cheaper.

What do you guys think?

 

[semenza]

I pretty much know the type of desk but pictures will help.

If the finish is really hard I think you will need a a Rotex. The RO90 would do well for the corners but not so great on the open flat areas. Ideally I would want the RO150, RO90, and LS130 in addition to your ETS.

Seth

 

[williaty]

It just seems to me that any of the round sanders are going to leave so much undone because I'm dealing with the square corners and the thin reveals. Am I not right about that?

 

[live4ever]

Got a heat gun?  That and a scraper might get the bulk of the junk off, then your ETS 150/5 and a brand-spanking new DTS 400 can take care of the rest.

 

[Naildrivingman]

I wouldn’t necessarily discount chemical strippers. You could be dealing with a finish that is not catalysed like a lot of modern finishes. I would suggest trying some aircraft paint removers on a concealed area. You may be surprised.

Beyond that, you will need a large format sander and a detail sander eventually. The stripper will only get you so far.

Good luck.

 

[sancho57]

With out a photo I’m shooting from the hip.

But with that being said

I get a commercial/ pro stripper ( not sold at DIY and big box stores). Strip it then sand it with a good finishing sander go through the grits.

 

[James Carriere]

+1 on the chemical strippers (not big box or citrus based)  which should indeed remove the bulk of the finish.  After that I would use an ETS EC for the larger panels and a DTS 400 for the corners and rebate edges.  If you have not used the DTS line before, they don't hop around too much off of a perpendicular edge compared to what you might have experienced with other sanders or brands. Try and focus on sanding up to the edge and not press too much into the edge.  At the end of the day however be prepared to do some fine final clean up in the corners by hand.  It's not very realistic to expect a motorized sander to follow the narrow profiles that define the edges between the panels and the rails.  95% of the job with a motorized sander sure but if you try and insist on the sander doing 100% of the work you will likely lose some of the crispness to the corners and edges and it will not look as good as it could.

Good luck, that is a big ass desk!  Should look great when you're done.  Send some before and after pics, it will be cool to see the transformation.

 

[rst]

Invest in some Bahco carbide scrapers, they work great for tight areas.

 

[Goz]

+1 on the Bahco scrapers.

I've had good success with Soy Gel (Franmar Chemicals Blue Bear 600GL). I've also heard good things about Dumond Peel Away.  With Peel Away, you can buy sample kits to try out on your desk.

Good luck!

 

[Alanbach]

I purchased a DTS 400 a few months ago for a barn door refinishing project. It was a much better / more powerful sander than I expected. It worked great on the surfaces, into the corners and right up to the edges captured by the rails. I did not have flats at the bottom of panel edges but I did have a 3/8” vertical butting up to a flat panel. The DTS worked great on edge. It did not damage the adjacent surface at all although in my case it was not a highly finished piece so the margin for error was above average. I did not have a heavy finish to remove but the color contrast that I needed to remove was significant. So I had to work the areas abutting up to the rail edges pretty hard and it did not damage the adjacent surface. It did muss up the edges of the pad a little but that damage was insignificant in my opinion. This project made me love the DTS. I hope this helps!

 

[DrD]

I find the RS2 hard to beat when flat surfaces are involved.  You can cover a lot if surface with a half-sheet sander.

 

[Alanbach]

I forgot to mention that the DTS 400 has a 2mm stroke so it does not jump around on edge or when butted up to a rail edge. On edge it goes into corners really well. Like I said above the only casualty was a little damage to the edge of the sanding pad and the sandpaper.

 

[AlexThePalex]

The current model of the DTS has a removeable edge protector, you won't even touch the edge with the pad if you use it.

 

[Alanbach]

True, it does have a very effective edge protector which I chose not to use on this one project because I needed to get “all the way” in there.