Finishing items - with profiled edges and when both sides need finished

[George Bokros]

What do you do when you have to finish items with rounded or profiled edges and both sides need to be finished? How do you deal with the dye or stain the wants to wrap around to the edge and other side?

What do you do to when you need to finish both sides? I have used painters pyramids and ended up with dents on the wood not to mention flaws in the finish. I have tried masking and it isn't to bad with squared corners but you still get what I call joint lines where the two top coats meet.

Thanks

George

[George Bokros]

Bumpy

No ideas / suggestions??

[Scott Holmes]

What are you finishing? If it's a door use the hinge attachment locations.

You can usually wipe the dye on with a sponge then use the same sponge, wrung out, to soak up the excess dye. Most pieces have some location that can be used to hold or suspend it while it dries.

[John TenEyck]

I've had the same issues George. As Scott said, you can sometimes suspend the work by an attachment point that won't show. However, that's often not very conducive to making it easy to work on. I much prefer to work on horizontal surfaces but if you hold up a door by it's hinge holes it will be vertical or some odd angle close to vertical and, in any case, not much fun to work on. Sooo, for doors where the top/bottom edges won't be seen later, I drive in some finish nails and suspend the door horizontally. For false front drawer faces I use the plastic painter pyramids because you won't see the dents/defects after it's mounted. Both of these approaches allow you to perform each step of the finishing process on both sides so you can avoid those "joint" lines. On stuff where I can't do either, I still try to work horizontally if at all possible. With doors, I lay them on strips of softwood, good face down, apply whatever I'm doing and wait for it to dry, then flip it over and do the edges and front surface. I normally spray everything and I can avoid the joint lines doing this. With hand applied finishes it's definitely harder, so sometimes you just have to hang the door by the hinge holes like Scott said and work on it that way to avoid the joint lines. Same thing with a profiled edge. I have to suspend it horizontally or hang it vertically and do it all at once. No way around it.

John

[George Bokros]

Thanks for your reply's John and Scott. Unfortunately what I am working on is sewing machine cabinet. The sides need finished on both sides since both the inside and outside are seen, The top lifts off so both sides must be finished since the bottom is seen when you lift the top off. When using the sewing machine the doors are open so the inside of the sides, the inside of the back and the inside of the doors are all seen.

I can see no way to suspend anything but I do not believe suspending pieces will not work well for wiping on dye anyway. Here is what the cabinet looks like. The wife bought it in kit form since I told her I do not have the necessary spindle sander to sand all the curves. The cabinet is completely unassembled. I have to finish and assemble. My plan is to dye the cabinet components assemble they apply GF Arm-R- Seal as the top coat. I want to dye prior to assembly to make it easier to get the color consistent across the pieces.

Cabinet link: http://bnddesign.net/maple.html

Again thanks for the suggetions. Any other thoughts will be appreciated.

George

[Prashun Patel]

Not sure I see a problem here. Top coat before assembly as well.

Wiping varnish is forgiving. Alternate the top and bottom every couple coats. Once assembled, sand smooth and wipe a final, thin coat as far as you can reach.

[George Bokros]

Prashun my problem is applying (wiping on) the dye to both sides and edges and maintain color consistency with no dye wrapping around on to the edges and other side causing coloration differences.

George

[Prashun Patel]

Don't worry too much about it. Sponge it on swiftly and generously on the top, and flip it and do the bottom. If your dye is in water and your liberally flooding, you won't get lap marks.

Then go back with a wet sponge or moist paper towel and wipe down both surfaces.

Sand the end grain well. It is THERE that you risk color inconsistency.

[Rick Mosher]

Start with the least visible side, there always is one. Stain that side and the edges first and after the stain dries seal with a washcoat of sealer but don't seal the edges. After the washcoat dries flip the piece over, stain the other side and fix the edges if any stain drips on them and then wash coat the face and edges. Finish the same way but do the edges both times so you get a good build on them. I use a drying rack to put things in while drying and to protect from dust getting in the finish. A cheap one to make at home would be something like this:

[John TenEyck]

I would do your project just like I described, George. The sides, back, bottom, etc., any part that has edges that won't show after assembly, I'd put nails in to suspend them between two strips of wood. Dye one side and edges, flip and do the other side and check the edges. The top and doors I would do by placing them good side down on wood strips and do that side. When dry, flip and do the edges and the show side. Of course, I'm spraying everything and that helps avoid runs and run overs.

John

[Kent A Bathurst]

Prashun my problem is applying (wiping on) the dye to both sides and edges and maintain color consistency with no dye wrapping around on to the edges and other side causing coloration differences.

George


From a practical standpoint, not as big an issue as it appears in the abstract.

do top side and edges - start with the edges, and a rag dipped in wb dye, just damp-ish, not dripping. A little pressure makes the dye leave the rag at an easy-to-control flow - and be right behind it with a clean rag to wipe the bottom edge/corner as you go. NOt a huge rush - you have time to do a controlled applicaiton and still come back to dye the flat top -but you don't have time to be screwing around. Even though the dye seems to have dried, with further wiping/application, you can feather out any lap marks.

When dry, to the bottom flat. just be careful not to flood over the edge, and keep the clean rag in your other hand as you move along/near the edge.

As always - grab a piece of whatever and take it for a test drive. Really no that hard to do.

Varnishing - same game - I brush on edges, with clean rag to pick up overflow on the edge/corner. Do the top flat. Dry. Repeat. Dry. flip it and bottom flat. dry. repeat.

I put some clean rags on chunks of 2 x 4 scrap and set the workpiece on them

[Rick Mosher]

I hardly ever wipe dye stain, spray only. If you're using water based dyes, as long as you don't seal the edges, if you get a little dark just wipe with a rag dampened with water and it will lighten the stain back where you want it.