Raised Panel Door Stain & Finish

[Kim Howarter]

I am building a vanity to finish up my bathroom remodel project. Have some questions on staining and finishing the raised panel doors. Somewhere I was told to stain and finish the inside panels before assembling them to keep them from showing raw wood when they shrink.

Do you agree that I put the stain and all coats of finish on the raised panels before assembly? By doing this, I am thinking that I will need to mask the center panel when I stain the rails and stiles.

Any other suggestions of how this is done?

I am using General Finishes water based stain and top coat and plan on 3 or 4 top coats.

Thanks,

Kim

[Neal Clayton]

i don't see this all that much on cabinet doors. for a full sized entry/interior door yes, the panels will move enough to leave a visible line especially if the panel isn't perfectly centered during assembly.

some of that would depend on the wood species used and the propensity for it to move as well. it's also more pronounced if the panels are a solid board, panels made of two or more boards glued together have less propensity to move due to the resistance of the glue joints to moisture travel.

either way, the trick for minimizing this is getting that panel as perfectly centered as possible. highly recommend those rubber spacers for this purpose, they're called space balls. there's also a barrel shaped type if you prefer those instead (i find the barrel ones easier to handle).

you don't need to put all coats of finish on the panels, just the color coat. we're talking about a 16th of movement, at the most, away from the stick joint. it shouldn't be visible that the top coat isn't there if they do move. if you have superman eyes and are convinced it is visible you can come back later and touch up the top coat on the exposed line during the winter months when the panel is at its smallest point.

basically don't make it more complicated than it is . one coat of stain on the panels before you put them together, that's it.

[Chris Padilla]

In lieu of space balls, a cheap tube of silicone caulking works: lay out several lines on some wax paper...peel up...cut to size.

[Kim Howarter]

Thanks for the advise on this.

These are small drawer fronts made like doors about 22" wide by 19" tall with a center mullion. Each door has 2 Oak panels that measure 7 3/4" wide by 13 3/8" tall. They are made in one piece, not glued up. I do plan to use space balls with them.

Kim

[Darius Ferlas]

You can also use Weldbond and actually glue the panels. As per Weldbond's technical information (I spoke with one of their lab engineers) the glue shrinks and expands and will not cause wood to crack or split.

[Scott Holmes]

I always lean the way of the KISS (keep it simple stupid) method.

Stain the panels, give them a coat or two of finish, then assemble the doors. Once assembled the stain will not do anything to the sealed panels then apply a coat or two of finish to the frames. Lightly sand everything smooth. Apply the last coat or two. to everything.

[Joe Chritz]

I pre-finish panels that are recessed. Since I drum sand all my doors the raised panel doors are built to be flush front and I just stain the profiles and do the rest after sanding.

Joe

[Kim Howarter]

Thanks to everyone that responded to my questions. I ended up staining and putting finish on the panels, assembled them into the doors, and routed the outside edges. Just finished final sanding and ready to begin staining and finishing the 2 doors and the 6 drawer fronts.

I will put the stain and finish on the frame portion of the doors and then a final coat or 2 on the complete door including the panels.

Kim