How To: Refinish a Desk – Part 1: Sanding
Posted by Michelle on Jul 4, 2012 in Featured | 11 comments
This is how to refinish a desk part 1. This covers how to find a piece of furniture to work with and goes over all the tools needed to start sanding and get it ready for priming, painting and sealing. For more info and updates visit www.thepaintedalley.com
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Yes! absolutely, anything that is wood, as long as you sand it really well. I have even used furniture from Ikea.
so I could do this with plywood too (like a desk from walmart or staples?
@HanakoFairhall duh! sorry
you can send it to thepaintedalley@gmail.com and I will take a look at it.
Ok, how can I get one to you?
Yes a picture would help!
This could very well be particle board, I wouldn’t mind showing you a picture of said desk, I’ll see if I can get a shot of the material underneath too
Also, make sure what you are working with is actually wood. “Laminate” kind of sounds like particle board with a veneer on top of it that looks like wood. I have painted on top of that, but it is a much longer process. Good luck!
Yes, you should be able to tell which direction the grain of the wood is going. You will definitely know if you are going against the grain as it will start to get rough, splinter, etc. If you are going with the grain it will be a lot smoother. There are different grit sandpapers that you can use. 80 grit will strip off any existing varnish and you can work up from there to 150 grit and so on until you use a really light grit like 280 or 320 and that will get the wood very smooth
I’m afraid I know very little about sanding in general, but I will try to learn by research, experience, and a little guidance. I do believe I know what you mean by sanding “with the grain of the wood” (for instance if the wood is facing left, I move the sandpaper left)
Part of my plan was to put a new finish on, the current finish, as it stands, seems to be glued on, or “Laminated” on, it has a plastic/laminate feel, I’d like to get something similar.
You should be able to sand plywood, I would just suggest sanding with the grain of the wood, that way it doesn’t start to fray. You should be able to get anything off by sanding it, and if you use varying degrees of sandpaper – the most rough at first, then less rough and so on, you should get it to be quite smooth and ready to paint on.
I have a question for you, and it’s probably obvious what the answer is, but my desk is quite filthy, I have tried cleaning it the old fashioned way, but there are things on there that won’t come off.
Thing is though, this desk is made of Plywood with aluminum legs, The surface is about an inch thick, can you sand plywood like you can solid wood or would that wind up destroying the desk or make it so that you’re unable to put a new finish on it?