Prefinished vs. unfinished maple

[Harper Abbot]

I'm interested in your opinions: I am working with a vendor of wood (maple) products, and need to make a decision whether I'd like to order them pre- stained and clearcoated, or unfinished.

Will I likely have gumminess issues, etc. engraving a prefinished item? I plan on spraying the engraving (which will be masked) with clearcoat after the fact, or sealing and spraying with a color.

Thanks much

[John Noell]

I much prefer working with pre-finished wood. Much easier to clean up the gunk. And a good finish means I do not have to take the time to mask it.

[Mike Null]

If I have a choice it's pre-finished.

[Bill Cunningham]

With pre-finished if anything sneaks under the mask you can just wipe it off. Unfinished would require re-sanding to get the stain out. Pre-finished is the only way to go..

[Richard Rumancik]

Another thing I have noticed is that masking paper sticks much better to a clear coat/lacquer/poly than it sticks to raw wood. I have found that on some wood pieces, the mask just wants to curl up. So to mask directly to wood, you may need to find a very high-tack masking paper. I would vote for pre-finished, even if you plan to add another finish layer yourself.

[Harper Abbot]

Thanks, definitely what I wanted to hear! I plan to seal with polyurethane and then spray through the mask with some kind of spray paint. Maybe an additional coat of sealant after that.

[Zsolt Paul]

Ditto. Prefinished is much easier to work on. Don't need to mask and easiy to wipe off.