Pre-finishing work

[woodcanuck]

I've seen recently a lot of discussion about pre-finishing, mostly with an emphasis on the positive aspects of it.

In my own experience I've only really done this in a couple of instances:

- when I was staining some parts, but not others, and wanted to avoid bleeding the stain where I don't want it to go.

- when the piece is full of 'nooks and crannies' that are a PIA to get to once the piece is assembled.

Some of the benefits I've seen called out include:

- prevention of glue spots/squeeze-out stains

- better view of the work to assess the quality of the finish

- ease of access for sanding/buffing/polishing

- less likelihood of exposing unfinished surfaces due to wood movement

Does anyone do this regularly? Are there any pros/cons to doing this? When would you not do it? When would you definitely do it?

[adamking]

I always always always prefinish parts when possible. Especially for hand made cabinets, table bases, and any other situation where it would be difficult to achieve a flawless finish if glued up first. Saves a ton of finishing time in the long run, especially in hard to reach areas after assembly. It just makes too much sense to not do it.

[KRAM121881]

I to had this question. So if you pre finish your parts do you just try not to get finish in dado's and where glue will be going?

[Beechwood Chip]

I to had this question. So if you pre finish your parts do you just try not to get finish in dado's and where glue will be going?

You can use blue tape to protect glue surfaces before pre-finishing, if it will be a problem. Marc demos pre-finishing in the low entertainment center.

[Lawrence Brown]

My current project is an arts & crafts piece, so everything is on it's own plane. The last thing I wanted to do was try to apply finish in all those corners, so everything is being prefinished.

In my case, everything was mortis and tenon, so I didn't really worry about getting anything on the glue surfaces. I was hand wiping, so all the finish basically stayed on the surface where it belonged.

Doing everything seperately also really made sanding much easier since it was all flat.

[PeteJr]

I prefinished a Pella door and the finish was stunning.

I now prefinish everything!