What is the best way to sand a wooden table before staining?

I am refinishing a round dining room table. It currently just has a light stain and poly over the wood, but I want to stain it a dark brown. I heard of the liquid sandpaper and was interested because the base of the table is very curvy and wasn't sure how well I'd be able to sand with typical sandpaper, but I haven't heard a lot of good about it on here. HELP!!!!What is the best way to sand a wooden table before staining?
Liquid sandpaper is a ';deglosser';. It's designed to take the sheen off of a finished surface so that a new finish will stick to it. What you want to do is completely remove the poly finish. So, you'll need a stripper, as mentioned in another answer. A heavy-duty chemical stripper - available at any hardware store - will probably work fastest. But if you don't like the chemical smell (you'd need a respirator to work indoors), we've heard great things about a product called Soy-GEL. It's made primarily from soybeans, has very little odor and apparently works very well.



If you end up sanding the finish off all or part of the table, use a stearate coated sandpaper, such as 3M Sandblaster or Norton 3X. It won't clog up nearly as fast as ';regular'; sandpaper. Even if you strip the table, you may still have to sand a little residue out of crevices and corners. A set of detail sanding curves (http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=鈥?/a> and abrasive sanding cord (http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=鈥?/a> can really help get into tight spaces. But you can get by without it with a little creative sandpaper folding.



Once you have the table thoroughly stripped and cleaned, you'll want to give it a light sanding to even out the texture and remove any grain ';fuzz'; that was raised in the stripping process.



Hope this helps!What is the best way to sand a wooden table before staining?
you need to strip it with REGULAR paint stripper..the liquid sandpaper won't take off the poly (and really won't take off the stain..)

if you have a place that dip strips, take it there and let them do it in a tank..it will be easier on you and the table.
Right at Home Depot you can rent an electrical sander and they sell different grades of sand paper, so check the back of the package so the appropriate sand paper is purchased.
Don't use TOO fine a sandpaper when you have the old paint removed - you want to rough up the surface just a little bit - not buff it to a shine. the paint won't stick good if there is old paint on there or if the surface is too smooth.