A trip to the hardware store made me rethink my whole paint prep routine

I was at the big Home Depot in Springfield last weekend, buying primer for a dresser. An older guy in line saw my cart and asked if I had a good scraper. I said I just sand a little. He told me he spent 30 years as a painter and that scraping for 10 minutes saves an hour of sanding later. Now I'm torn. One side says sanding is fine and you get a smooth start. The other side says a sharp scraper gets off old paint way faster and saves your arms. What's your go-to method for getting old paint off furniture?

3 comments

3 Comments

sean_foster527d agoMost Upvoted

Read a pro painter's blog that said scraping first is key, Claire_Ramirez22, and I've never looked back.

noahcampbell1mo ago

Honestly, that old painter knows his stuff. Why waste time sanding if a scraper does the heavy lifting? I always start with a sharp scraper to get the big flakes off, then sand what's left smooth. It's way faster and my arms don't feel like jelly after.

claire_ramirez221mo ago

Wait, you only sand AFTER scraping? That's wild, I always thought you had to sand first to make the scraper work better. My last project took forever because I did it the other way around.