First of all, I hope you have taken care of the 'ditzy girlfriend'...use some of the sandpaper on her a.. :-)
. If the dresser is painted use a paint remover to start with. If just stained then just follow the steps below:
1. Start sanding with a 200 grit sandpaper until all the finish is removed and the scratch's are gone. Use can even use a hand power sander to speed the process. Always make sure you sand in the 'direction of the wood grain', never sand across the grain.
2. After all the finish and scratch's are removed start using a 300 to 400 grit sandpaper to remove any sanding marks.
3. Your final sand should be by hand using a 600 grit which will give you an excellant smooth finish.
4. One big mistake many make when refinishing wood is not removing all the dust left by sanding. Go over the wood several times with a 'tack cloth' available from all hardware stores. This is cheesecloth dipped in shelac or something similar.
5. You then must decide if you want to stain the wood or just leave it natural. If natural, then purchase a natural stain, I generally use the brand 'MINWAX' with good results. This stain brings out the natural luster and gain of the wood.
6. Now you are ready for your final protective coat to bring our the shine in the wood. Never use a polyurethane product on good antiques. Does not look good and dimishes the value. I always use a 'tung oil' which is an all natural product.
Hope this helps and get ready for some sore arms from all the sanding etc.
