Finishing interior shaker door lacquer panels before or after assembly

[Chad Sears]

Greetings, I am building an interior shaker door I have already pre-stained the panels and I was thinking about lacquering them ahead of time before assembly. I'm not sure though how to prevent spraying lacquer on them once I'm assembled when I spray the rest of the door, without waiting a long time to be able to use tape and paper to protect them.

That got me thinking about whether I should spray them ahead of time at all.

I came here to get everyone's thoughts on what you would do.

My original plan was to spray the panels. Then wait about 3 days before I do the final assembly on the door frame, mask off the panels, stain the door frame, and spray.

[Terence McGee]

Going with pre-finishing the panels is a good idea for a clean finish. Once they've cured, you can gently cover them with low-tack painter's tape and paper for protection during the final spray. This should prevent any damage.

Also, you can use a spray shield while spraying the frame to avoid overspray. This will help keep your pre-finished panels safe. Hope this helps!

[Dan Hahr]

Maybe in a perfect world. Way to easy for lacquer to get under the tape and look like crap. Put one coat of lacquer on the panels and sand before assembling. Then spray the whole door as a unit. If Theresa dry film thickness limit, go easy on the panels.

Dan

[Jim Becker]

Just do your prefinish with a single light coat of your clear to seal up your coloration to the edges so if they do move in the future, there will be no visible un-colored edges. Then assemble your doors and complete the whole finishing process as normal. The one coat of sealing will help keep stain off the panel (tape it anyway) and then when you spray on your multiple coats of clear on the whole door(s), things will look normal.

[Chad Sears]

Thank you all for your advice, I think its turning out nicely.

I do have an unrelated followup question, perhaps your supposed to do a new thread but we can try here. When gluing up some of the glue squeezed into a few of the corners, no doubt gluing that corner of the panel in place. Any advice for what to do other than hope and pray? I used Titebond hide glue if that helps. As far as I can tell from the outside it would be one corner on two different panels, so I don't believe its locked in from two sides.

[Jim Becker]

Chad, as careful as we all might be, it's not all that unusual for some glue to get to a place it's not intended to go. I wouldn't worry about little spots that, as you note, do not lock things in in a substantial way. Some makers will even intentionally use a dab of glue to keep a panel centered while allowing for movement across the grain. (or a 23 gage pin from the back to do the same)