Sanders, which one to purchase?

Style-Sack
by Style-Sack
I am giving up on sanding by hand, LOL well mostly, and I have a few larger pieces of furniture I want to sand,
So I started to look for a electric hand sander but I am unsure which one? An orbital or a sheet sander... Any advice would be appreciated.. What is your experience?
Thank you in advance.
  7 answers
  • Janet Pizaro Janet Pizaro on Sep 19, 2015
    I do not have any experience in this category but in my opinion I think its going depend if there is a difference based on how big or what kind of furniture you are sanding.
  • Jan Loehr Jan Loehr on Sep 19, 2015
    I have used a circular sander in the past when I was working with a large piece such as a credenza with a lot of drawers...this works great with large, flat areas such as top and sides and even drawer fronts...of course if there is lots of detail you will have to hand sand these areas.
  • Style-Sack Style-Sack on Sep 19, 2015
    Thank you, I have a big wood old blanket chest I need to sand and some other wood furniture that I was hoping to stain a darker colour... I have seen others make mention of sanding pieces of furniture, but never actually found out which sander I should get.. I have been watching a few YouTube vids but I thought it would be great to get some ideas on what other people here use.
  • I use a sheet sander. My favorite is a 9 inch sheet sander by Craftsman and I've had it for years. I don't think they make it anymore. To be honest any 4" pad sander will work fine. You can get them as cheap as $20.
  • Z Z on Sep 20, 2015
    I have refinished furniture for over thirty years now and my favorite way to do so is to sand. It's like really cheap therapy with yourself. I mean who better knows you than you? My two most used sanders are a mouse style and a sheet sander. The sheet sander is great on large flat surfaces, but you have to be very careful on anything veneer, and is very inexpensive to replace the paper because you can buy sheet sandpaper to cut to size. The mouse style with it's padded pointed front and rounded back corners help get into smaller molded areas.
  • Kristine Hudson Kristine Hudson on Sep 20, 2015
    for large pieces, a belt sander, you may want to pick up a palm sander for small detail areas if there are any. I hate sanding, and my bug palm sander by blk and decker was a life saver.
  • Debi53 Debi53 on Sep 26, 2015
    Go to your home improvement store and pick up each type of sander. Belt sanders, to me, are too heavy and bulky and can really damage your piece if you are not careful. I like the palm sanders. They are big enough for large projects, but also work on drawer fronts, etc. Find the sander that fits your hand the best.