Masking Tennon or are they tongues

[George Bokros]

I am making a small cabinet of the bathroom I am using dado's an tennons / tongues to assemble the shelves to the sides and the sides to the top and the bottom. These are 1/4" thick tennons/tongues going into 1/4" deep dados. I need to finish prior to assembly do the small interior spaces and want to make sure I have good clean glue areas on the tennons/tongues in the inside of the dado's.

How do you keep these areas clear of finish to provide a good glue surface?

I hope I have made this clear.

Thanks for your input.

This is various tedious masking to say the least.

[Rob Luter]

Blue painter's tape is your friend in this application. Just apply tape where you don't want finish.

[Rob Young]

Blue painter's tape is your friend in this application. Just apply tape where you don't want finish.

Works great. And you can tape over the mortise holes, maybe trimming the tape so that you guarantee some color under the tenon shoulders. Alternately, I've stuffed mortise holes with paper towels if spraying prior to assembly.

[George Bokros]

I am and have been masking with the blue tape. I thought maybe someone had a magic way to handle the mortises since you do not want a faint line of unpainted area along the piece.

Guess what I was doing is the way to do it.

Thanks

[Rob Luter]

I am and have been masking with the blue tape. I thought maybe someone had a magic way to handle the mortises since you do not want a faint line of unpainted area along the piece.

Guess what I was doing is the way to do it.

Thanks

i don’t worry about the mortises too much. Just use a little care around the edges and you’ll be fine.