Finishing Before Assembly

[George Bokros]

I have a couple of questions regarding masking for finishing prior to assembly.

How would you mask a box joint so you can finish the components prior to assembly?

Masking a mortise and tennon joint, the tennon can easily be masked but do you need to mask the shoulders?

How would you mask the mortise, I am guessing you could use pieces of sponge stuffed into the mortise?

Thanks for your help.

George

[Prashun Patel]

George-
I would not finish the joint prior to assembly. Don't you have to do some post assembly sanding to bring the joints flush?

Also, for the M&T, why not just finish post-assembly.

IMHO, finishing prior to assembly is most beneficial for box interiors and panels. When finishing drawers, I will finish the inside faces of the drawer boxes prior to assembly, but not the outsides.

[George Bokros]

George-
I would not finish the joint prior to assembly. Don't you have to do some post assembly sanding to bring the joints flush?

Also, for the M&T, why not just finish post-assembly.

IMHO, finishing prior to assembly is most beneficial for box interiors and panels. When finishing drawers, I will finish the inside faces of the drawer boxes prior to assembly, but not the outsides.

The part with the box joint is a box and I would finish the inside only prior to assembly to allow for sanding to bring flush. I figured out that I can mask the box joint pretty easily by masking the tabs (?) then finish and the part that gets glued will not get any finish.

As for the mortise and tennon parts I want to finish them in the horizontal position to avoid any runs.

George

[Jim Rimmer]

Do a search for Bill Huber's post on masking (but be aware that he used the term taping instead of masking and spelled it tapping). He has a great idea that would probably work for your box joint. I stuffed soemthing into the mortises while applying stain but I don't remember what. Just something to keep the finish off the glue surface.

[Mark W Pugh]

Do a search for Bill Huber's post on masking (but be aware that he used the term taping instead of masking and spelled it tapping). He has a great idea that would probably work for your box joint. I stuffed soemthing into the mortises while applying stain but I don't remember what. Just something to keep the finish off the glue surface.

OK, any quick link? Thanks.

[Kent A Bathurst]

I have a couple of questions regarding masking for finishing prior to assembly.

How would you mask a box joint so you can finish the components prior to assembly?

Masking a mortise and tennon joint, the tennon can easily be masked but do you need to mask the shoulders?

How would you mask the mortise, I am guessing you could use pieces of sponge stuffed into the mortise?

Thanks for your help.

George

George - here is my experience, opinion, and conclusions:

Early days
1] blue tape on the tenon faces and edges.
2] no need to worry about the shoulders - that is not a "strength" glue surface - does not really come into play. If you are counting on them as a glue surface, then you have to tape off the corresponding surface on the mortised part - BIG PITA. But - big waste of time.
3] stuff the mortises fulla paper towels.

Today
1] I am not nearly as sloppy with my varnishing as I thought I would be / as I used to be.
2] I don't do diddly-squat, in terms of taping off tenons, or blocking/filling mortises.
3] I simply do not have much varnish that hits those surfaces.
4] In the occasional - rare - instances where that does happen, it is right at the shoulder end of the tenon, or the surface edge of the mortise. Mr Sharp Chisel takes care of that in seconds. Mebbe Mr Shoulder Plane for one swipe.

Conclusion
1] I was over-driving my headlights
2] Or, a different analogy: I had a solution looking for a problem.

Just let 'er rip. Your joints will not fail for this reason. If they fail, it will be because your are lousy at making M&T joints, and flew the plane into the hill. As have we all, brudda.................