Finishing, then assembling

On Mon, 23 Aug 2004 01:25:04 GMT, Chris Wood <[email protected]> wrote:

>Hey all,
>
>Most of the major sub-assemblies for my second piece of furniture, (it's
>my first big project; the first piecce was an end table) are nearing
>completion. Finishing the thing all put together is going to be a pain,
>so I figured I would mask off the joinery, finish the assemblies (front
>and back face frames, left, right, and center panels, and bottom panel),
>and then glue up. Center panel fits into a dado in the bottom panel;
>bottom panel fits into grooves in the front and rear face frames; face
>frames fit into grooves in the left and right panels
>
>Then I had an idea. Could I save time by finishing up the assemblies as
>they are now, only masking the edges that fit into grooves, and after
>they're all finished, then cut the grooves/dados? Cutting the grooves
>exposes new wood to accept the glue.
>
>What am I missing?
>

The trip across your tools (or your tools trip across the finished
pieces). Believe me, your table saw top or your router base are not nearly
as smooth as you think.

OTOH, I have found that finishing before assembly by masking off the glue
areas yields a piece with a superior finish because you avoid all those
impossible to reach corners and edges. It just takes a great deal more
care, first in making sure you don't get finish in the glue areas and that
you don't mar the finish during assembly.

>Chris