Pedestal cedar desk restoration

Hi Wouldnot,
I'm no expert but been buying and refurbishing different pieces to build up my skills. I started with French polishing but progressed to staining and using Wipe On Poly. If I had that piece I would be planning to sand, stain , and Wipe On Poly. For sanding for sanding I have bought different quality of sanders and my preference is the Festool Orbital Sander connected to Festool dust extractor. This sander is bigger than most and the dust extraction collects about 99%. I also have Makita and Izito. I have bought universal adaptors to connect the Makita to extractor and it works just as fine. For flat surfaces it is fine but near the trims I would use the sand paper on a wooden block (no dust extractor here :) ). For the trims I have been lucky and able to remove them for sanding. There are sponge filled sanding blocks that can help with sanding trims. Avoid disc sanders - I have seen so many pieces ruined by these. Some people can better describe it but for scratches you can wet and apply heat (iron through cloth) and this should raise the wood so that you can sand back down to level again.

When using sanders I find slowly with patience is best and avoids digging holes. For sander paper the smaller the number the coarser it is. Personally I try starting at 120 and move up.

Don't over look using paint stripper but keep in ventilated area and was well. I haven't mastered this yet. I think some people will give some great advice here.

For the staining and Wipe On Poly the experts in the shops are usually good to talk to but my advice is trial on other wood or furniture first where mistakes are cheaper. One thing you can do here is trail in the under neath areas where mistakes won't normally been seen. When I French polish I will first wipe down with Mentholated Spirits and then lightly sand to cut the little rough pieces off.

The Polisher's Handbook from Ubeaut is the best book in this area that I have ever bought. I'm on my 3rd copy to date.

Another note that others can probably give good guidance on is that I would think of how to protect the leather surface before starting on anything.

I wish you the best and look forward with envy to seeing the progress.

By the way if you can get Xanthorrhoeas to comment he has brilliant advice especially if you want to just repair and keep the antique sort of value. I'm more into practice and recycling before I try his level of rescue.