What's the best type of sander for sanding down to bare wood on furniture?

I’m looking at moving up from my little dewalt random orbital sander and am a bit of a loss where to start. I’m looking primarily for long lasting, comfortable and good dust collection. I’ve looked through Mirka, festool and 3M xtract. Curious what you guys would go with if you were buying one sander (and matching dust extractor)

I've been building my shop over the past year and in turn moving from general construction tools to finer woodworking tools. This weekend while finishing drawers, I've realized I don't love my oribital sander and I would like to upgrade.

Currently I'm using the Milwaukee 4". The finish is just ok, the dust extraction is poor, the vibration is ok at best and the feel when the dust hose is attached is clunky. I'm looking at the festool, mirka and the eksand so far. The festool has had some bad reviews lately on the one with the handle, but overall a lot of people rave about these. I didn't see a lot of reviews here on the Mirka and the Eksand, but they seem to be quality tools.

I'm looking for some recommendations. I won't be doing much paint on my projects and I'm at the beginning so is line to start right. I have a big enough budget where most options are on the table as long as it makes sense. Any advise this sub can lend is highly appreciated.

I have been woodworking for about a year and jumped in with both feet. I have accumulated all kinds of tools : cabinet saw, planer, 2 stage dust collection, 3 routers… you get the picture. I am finishing my first major piece of furniture, a bed. I am at the sanding stage and can’t feel my hand because of the $ 19.00 Bauer palm sander. If you can buy one sander to do as many things as possible. What would it be and why? Thanks in advance for the input and experience.

Looking for suggestions for a random orbital sander. I’m currently considering the Ryobi orbital but I hear mixed reviews. I’ve done a couple furniture flips in the past (using my dads ancient sander). I am by no means a serious flipper or looking to sell my work, just updating some furniture we’ve been given. Looking for something that’s just best, all round orbital sander for furniture flip. Corded or cordless isn’t an issue. Just looking for something that takes the paint off with as little elbow grease as possible :) thanks!

Ive been using a dewalt dcw 210 sander for a couple years now and im happy with it but im also not. Any amount of pressure I put on it, it quits spinning. Also it uses a battery very quickly and its difficult to sand for long periods due to a battery making it heavier on 1 side. At my work place we use indasa sanders which i like but they are pneumatic and my air compressor isnt big enough to handle it. Im looking for recommendations for a hand sander that can remove more wood faster then my current sander. Preferably corded 5" sander hook and loop with dust collector capability, that keeps spinning even with some pressure applied. I typically use pine, oak, and some walnut and maple.

What is the best sander to sand teak outdoor furniture? I only know of belt and circular. I just want to sand them down so I can apply sealant. If it isn't obvious, I'm not a carpenter, I'm a plumber. Help!

My mom retires this week and has been talking about restoring furniture as a new hobby. Wanted to pick this up for her but was wondering if this was the right tool for the job. Thanks in Advance!

Hey guys, I'm upgrading from my hand-me-down Black& Decker mouse sander and I'm looking for something under the price of $160, that is robust, efficient, Aunt will make my life easier. My current sander takes more time to sand than doing it by hand because it's so old. Any recommendations for something that will provide a smooth surface without gouging? I use the foam pads for preservation of detail. Thanks in advance!

I am getting deeper in to furniture refinishing and I’ve been loving it. I love seeing the gem that I am able to uncover from old worn out pieces of furniture. I am pretty much self taught so I have not been introduced to a lot of what wood working requires.

I have always used an orbital (Bosch) and a square finish sander (Dewalt) along with hand sanding and home made sanding blocks.

What types of sanders should I look in to acquiring that will help me get better?

I’ve been looking at Festool sanders for a large project and am hopin somebody can recommend products that are on the market today. Many products on old discussions are discontinued.

The budget to buy the sander would allow me to save money because the quote is much higher. Can anybody recommend a good sander with a great vacuum attachment or system to do this as cleanly as possible?

Hello,

So, like the title says, Im in the market for a sander. Mostly I sand by hand when I just need to get things smooth or ready for glueing.

Where I need to power tools are smoothing out glue-up edges (im a beginner, my glue-up have very non-aligning edges so I need to often smooth them out).

What I do currently is that I have one of those attachments for my drill that lets me but a sandpaper disc on it and it spins that around, kinda like a crappy orbital sander. Problem is that it is insanely hard to get that disc parallel to the workpiece while holding the drill essentially in the air and I end up making my pieces not square anymore and taking off more material from one side.

I think (and please tell me if im right) that a sander rests on the material so its easy to get the sandpaper parallel to the material. Is this correct?

If yes then need something that is decent at removing material but that I might also use for finish sanding.

The closest thing to my drill contraption I guess is an orbital sander since I understand that it also just spins the sandpaper around (vs alot of others, including random orbital, that just vibrate it). What type of sander would be best in my case?

I am (hopefully) closing on my first house in July! I am wanting to do some small diy things such as flipping furniture to repaint or sanding and repainting doors etc. does anyone have a good sander they can recommend for those types of projects? I am pretty new to this and don’t have much knowledge on power tools so any advice would be appreciated! Thanks!

I have some old solid wood doors in my house I’d like to refinish. I plan to strip the paint (likely has lead in it), sand the doors down and repaint one side white and go with a dark stain on the hallway side. Which sander is better for this and stripping furniture/moulding in general? I have an orbital sander but would a sheet sander be better?

I was thinking about buying an orbital sander but then i read that it might leave marks on the wood. I dont own any machine for sanding but sanding with hand truly takes forever so this cant be the right way ...

I've been running a Ridgid 5" ROS for years and years now, and it's slowly dying. It's a fine sander; it spins and sands. I have nothing positive or negative to say on it, mostly: It was a $60 ROS that lasted many, many hours of use. That said it left my hands quite tingly and I'd love a better sanding experience once it does kick it.

I would like to upgrade, and am looking for:

• 5"

• Low vibration as possible

• Good dust collection (I use a vacuum attached almost always)

• Good single hand ergonomics

• Corded

From what I see, it feels like there are three tiers to look at:

1. Big box tier: Ridgid, Milwaukee, Dewalt, Makita, Bosch etc. Range from $30-$100; people seem to like the Makita and Bosch ones best, but I've used many and they seem generally pretty similar... Currently looking at Bosch.

2. Festool ETS line: Oddly all by itself in the middle of the price range, from what I've seen, about $250. Well loved, seems to check all the boxes but is more than I can probably justify with the amount I use it... Would also be concerned about busting it out for, say, cleaning up some decking if it's "too nice"

3. Super high end. Mirka, 3M Xtract, etc. Insanely priced at like $500-$700, but universally loved. Would clearly be worth it if you were doing production work, but I am not.

Any suggestions on others to look at, that are maybe the best of tier 1, or somewhere between tier 1 and 2? Surprised there's not more middle ground options now that I'm looking!

Edit: Got the standard Bosch 5" and it's a HUGE step up from my Ridgid that was about the same price. Sands the same, way less vibration!

For years I couldn't understand why anyone would wanna spend the big bucks for a premium random orbital. I mean, my $45 black and decker sands, what could possibly be the difference? Well, my B&D finally died, and I decided to try out the Bosch GET65 and wow, it really is better.
Even with just a shopvac not a true dust extractor the dust pickup is noticeably better. That turbo mode with 80 grit will just eat through the roughest surfaces, turn it down with some 220 and you're done before you know it. Now i'm starting to wonder if another $300 to go up to a festool might not be completely insane