Assemble, then stain,seal,etc or other way around

Hi,

I'm refinishing my first desk, and I'm through the stripping and the sanding part. My basic question now is whether to put the desk back together before staining, etc or finish the individual pieces first.

Thanks!

Aaron

Reply to
pashag
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It all depends on how you plan to finish it. If you're doing a traditional finish that requires rubbing out, then do it before assembly. If you're just going to Norm it with minwax, then assemble first.

Ken Muldrew snipped-for-privacy@ucalgazry.ca (remove all letters after y in the alphabet)

Reply to
Ken Muldrew

if the assembly hardware will show, then I would assembly it before I finished it.

Reply to
dnoyeB

Without knowing the intended end appearance, it is impossible to tell ... but my gut says to mount the hardware AFTER all refinishing steps have been taken. This eliminates the hassle of avoiding the hardware while applying the finish. If you want to darken the finish near handles & such, well, you have the mounting holes to tell you where they go ... use those as approximate guidelines to apply somewhat darker stain near them. If you want an even coloration, by all means leave the hardware off for now ... having to work around it will prevent even application of stains and finishes.

Make matters as simple for yourself as you possibly can. There will be complications enough in actually applying the finish.

Bill

Reply to
replyonline

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