Thrift Store Furniture Flips

The thrift store 2 blocks from campus sells dressers and side tables for $15-40. People I know who buy them and refinish them are getting better furniture than what IKEA sells for 3 times the price. I want to learn how to strip and restain wood because the difference between a beat-up dresser and a restored 1 is usually just sandpaper, stain, and 3 hours of work. The environmental argument is simple. Keeping a solid wood dresser out of a landfill and giving it another 10 years of use is better than buying a new particleboard 1 that will fall apart in 2 moves. But the practical appeal is stronger for me than the ethical 1. Old furniture is built with dovetail joints and real wood drawers that slide better than anything manufactured today at that price point.