How do you finish hinge mortises?

[David Rose]

I got the last of 4 coats of "scrubbed on - wiped off" poly (ugh!) on my glue/finish cabinet. Yay! Then I started reinstalling hinges... no yay. I thought I wiped out the mortises pretty well, but they started very snug *before* finishing so... I was too tired (dummy me) and got a little heavy handed before I realized what was wrong. One mortise damaged a little. :( I scraped the edges of the others and the rest went fine with some unplanned time involved cleaning them up.

What do you do with a built up finish and butt hinge mortises? There has to be a better way. Oh, and the main areas I missed with the wiping were the inside corners of the mortises.

David

[Jim Becker]

David, in my kitchen renovation project, I masked off the hinge mortises with bllue painter's tape prior to any finishing activities. It doesn't take long to build up enough to inhibit the hinges slipping into those pockets cleanly, especially if you were careful to size them close. For those I "forgot" to mask, it took some very careful work with the chisel to clean the edges and it's easy to make errors or accidently enlarge them. Work slow and careful with a very, very sharp chisel.

[David Rose]

That was all I could think of too, Jim. I "recon" that will happen from now on, unless someone has a better idea. I really scrubbed in the poly with a 3M abrasive pad. I suspected the activity of applying the finish would move the tape. At least it would off some protection.

Thanks!

David