Finish Prior to Assembly?

[George Bokros]

Do you finish a cabinet prior to assembly? I am starting to build a apothecary cabinet the LOML wants for our balcony. I am debating if I should finish the inside and outside prior to assembly. I plan on staining the outside but just apply a coat of poly or shellac on the inside to seal it.

Finish prior to assembly or after? Poly or shellac on the inside?

Thanks

George

[Scott Holmes]

Outdoor balcony? What type of wood?

[George Bokros]

Outdoor balcony? What type of wood?

Indoor balcony over our foyer. It is being made from sugar pine.

Thanks

George

[Prashun Patel]

I'd definitely finish before assembly if you can afford it. If you are brushing or wiping, it'll result in smoother results in the corners. If you are spraying, you'll avoid the rough overspray on the inside of the box.

I've done both poly and shellac on the insides. Conventional wisdom is to use shellac since it does not off gas and dries quicker, but I find the off-gassing of poly to be far less than other varnishes. If you are wiping your finish, I'd say use poly because it's just easier. If you are spraying, then I'd do shellac on the inside.

[Jim Rimmer]

I always try to prefinish if possible. With all the drawers (read corners) your project will be difficult to finish later but will also require a lot of prep to finish prior to assembly in order to keep finish off of glue surfaces. I think in the long run, even with the prep, prefinishing makes it easier and ends up with a better finish.

[John TenEyck]

Pros and cons to both approaches, and the decision for me most often centers around how difficult it will be to assemble prefinished pieces vs. how difficult it will be to finish the assembled piece. A lot of times you have to fair a joint after glue up; well, you can't do that if you prefinished the pieces first. Just clamping up prefinished pieces can lead to dents and damage that would have been simple to remove had it not been prefinished. On the other hand, staining is difficult to do evenly in corners, especially three way corners. Generally, I build first, then finish. If I can use shellac on the inside of a piece, then I just wipe it on with a paper towel, sand lightly, then wipe on another coat, sand lightly again and call it good. No runs, no errors. If I can't use shellac then I try to spray it with the back off to minimize roughness from over spray and the chance of runs. Or I might use a wiping varnish, like Arm-R-Seal; again with the back off so I don't have any three way corners to deal with. The outside is pretty easy, generally, except for what I said about staining, and almost any finishing approach works.

John

[glenn bradley]

I commonly pre-finish parts or assemblies. Just tape off any parts that will later be glue surfaces; tenons, dados, etc.

[Jerry Olexa]

Yes prefinish and shellac for interior..