Sanding off the old finish
The preparing steps of any project area whether it be our wood bench or a wall made of drywall always takes much longer then the staining or painting stage.
You should start with your scraper and remove any areas that are chipping or lose. You do not need to use excessive pressure with the scraper because this may cause gouges in the wood.
You can then complete the job by using an electric sander. Orbital sanders are good tools for refinishing projects. The sander will move in all directions which reduces the possibility of sanding scratches. You should start with a 60 to 80 grit sand paper which is the strongest in most assorted packs of sandpaper.
To use the larger pieces of sandpaper on your sander you need to fold it in three similar to the way you fold a letter that you are putting in an envelope. Make sure that the final size (the 1/3rd section) is wide enough for your sander. If its not then you may only be able to get 2 pieces of sandpaper for your sander and save the extra pieces for hand sanding later.
Inserting the sandpaper in the sander is pretty easy but you need to do it a few times to get the method down. First de-latch one side of the sander base catch and remove the old piece of sandpaper. Then insert the edge of the new piece under the clip. After the first side is attached open the other side and tare off any extra and insert and lock down the paper under the clip.
In the picture you can see we have a few extra pieces of old sandpaper on the bottom. This is done to protect the felt type sanding pad on the bottom of the sander. When using your sander you will often find that paper rips and you may not even notice right away. If your sanding pad comes into contact with your work you may damage the sanding pad which will result in marks being left in the surface when you use the sander later. So an easy trick is to leave an extra sheet of old spent but not ripped sandpaper on the bottom and this will protect and give longer life to your tool.
When you have reached all the larger areas that you can with your sander there will be remaining areas that you need to sand by hand. Using your hand scraper in these areas is a good idea and will give good results between the slats of our bench.
As you complete the removal process you will want to finish sand your wood with a less aggressive sand paper. More then likely you will just start running out of sandpaper as you work and this is an easy process to follow if you start with the most aggressive sandpaper in your assortment pack and finish with the fine grain.
It is important that all areas to be stained are bare wood because protected surfaces will not accept stain. If you miss areas this will result in spotting or light areas.
Once the entire bench is sanded you need to remove all of the dust.
Never use water on bare wood for removing dust or other reasons while in the preparation process. A dry clean cotton cloth should be used to remove most of the dust then if necessary you can use a canister vacuum cleaner hand attachment to get into the tight areas.