how many finish before assembly?

[Andrew Gibson]

I am planning a project for next years state fair. A chest of drawers... nothing crazy, fairly traditional with some inlay. Anyway I am trying to decide on a finish and I am really falling in love with the look of shellac over oil. anyway I have been doing some test samples.

My question is for anyone that usises a film finish. Do you finish, rub out, then assemble? If you assemble first, how do you deal with inside corners and details?

I am always disapointed with the finish in these inside corners. recently I have taken to oil and wax finishes, but I am getting board with this and want to move to a nice saten finish such as shellac. Shellac also fits the traditional designs that I tend toward.

I guess the answer is simply a good sanding block, and sand cross grain where I have to.

[Jamie Buxton]

I often apply finish before final assembly. For instance, I build drawers this way... Cut parts to size. The bottom will slide in from the back. Cut dovetails and dados. Sand interior faces. Glue front, sides, and back. Sand exterior faces. Finish. Slide bottom in. For the case of a chest of drawers, I'd probably glue the whole thing up and then finish it. There are no visible interior corners to worry about, and in fact little interior finish to apply.

[Tony Shea]

I am building a small cabinet of cherry and went through with finishing the interior before I assembled it. Well I let it sit a tad too long as it was an oil/varnish finish and wanted a decent build. THen wanted to wax it to a nice sheen. Due to me finishing only the inside I ended up with some pretty decent cupping in the solid boards. The humidity levels have changed during this period of time as well and with the two combinations I am very dissapointed. If I had to do over again I would def put at least a coat or two on the outside as well. I didn;t on that cabinet due to it needing planing the dovetails flush and some final smoothing. We live and learn though.

[Andrew Gibson]

Thanks for the replys.
The place that always seems to give me prolems is where the top overhangs the sides of the case. I always seem to get extra buildup of finish and sags in this area. Maybe my problem is my application tecnique.

[glenn bradley]

Any place that gives you grief, I would finish ahead of assembly. I almost always finish something ahead of assembly even if I am just applying a clear coat of shellac.

[Chris Fournier]

When it makes sense I'll do it every time as I end up with a better product and usually less hassle getting there. I understand that it can be tough to do this when you're "so close to getting it done.." but in most cases you'll be even close if you pre-finish certain assemblies.

[Jim Becker]

I will generally pre-finish panels for cabinetry where I want the inside surfaces to have a film finish...I don't like "spraying into a box", if you know what I mean. I carefully mask off glue surfaces, spray and then assemble. For furniture that gets no interior finish, I assemble and then finish. I really don't rub out finishes, so that's not been an issue for me to-date.

[Rich Engelhardt]

I've toyed w/the idea of pre finishing sheet goods as soon as I get them home.
Other than being somewhat locked into one particular color - I don't see much of a downside to doing it.

[Harvey Pascoe]

I not only finish before assembly, but usually finish before cutting to final size. Why? Because I can't take the chance of finish on the glue surfaces. This is no hardship at all, just putting last things first.