The belt sander and random vibrating sander prove effective. Check out the colour difference between sanded and unsanded areas. It's actually starting to reveal some wood under that dismal grey.

I officially had no idea how to use a belt sander though. It's not as easy as you'd think; you have to keep it steady and apply even pressure in long back-and-forth strokes. If you tip it up on it's edge, you leave slight gouges in the wood, which are undesirable. Not that I did that, Eldest Bro, no way. I became an expert immediately. Or after a few strokes and a quick observation of the expert.

The vibrating sander is a completely different beast. It shakes so much that it's almost impossible to hold on to. The Ol'Dad handles it with careless ease, of course. No problems, and even when it sputters and coughs to a halt (it being about as old as I am and, unsurprisingly, full of dust), he just rattles it a little and it starts up again.

Using both, we manage to get the top looking relatively clean and delightfully smooth. Now we just have to tackle the rest of it.

Immediately I, and by "I", I actually mean "Me and the Ol'Dad" (who can pretty much do anything, especially if it pertains to paint) encounter the first problem: the paint stripper only strips the first (and ugliest) layer. The clumpy purple mess wipes off to reveal white paint that has seeped into the wood, some interesting gold braid designs, and water stains of various sizes and shapes. Lovely.

Next weapon in my arsenal: steel wool. By now I have realized what I have gotten myself in to. And that is a whole lot of work. The steel wool is fairly effective, but essentially leaves the stains more visible. Unless I want to stain it black, I can't leave the wood like this.

Eldest Bro isn't going to like it, but what choice to I have? Bring on the belt sander!

Because I am the greatest of sisters (and terrible at buying presents for the man who has everything), I volunteered to strip and refinish this garage sale desk for Eldest Bro. It is quite possibly the ugliest desk in existence. At one point it may have been cute, but that was three for four layers of paint ago. He loves it though, and I'm pretty confident that I can make it look good. It won't be too difficult, right?

I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure that you aren't supposed to layer the paint on like that, even if you are going for an "artistic" look. And you should definitely paint the whole desk....

Join me as I record the various projects I start...and hopefully finish.