I have built a lingerie chest with 6 drawers. The sides have 5 flat panels separated with stiles, sandwiched between the corner posts. With all of these parts, there are many surfaces that meet at 90 degrees.
My finishing schedule will start with a dye followed by layers of shellac and stain. The question is whether I should dye the individual parts before or after assembling/gluing the chest. I am currently leaning toward applying the dye before assembly so that I insure that I get an even application of the dye right up to the corners where the surfaces meet. The only concern about applying the dye before assembly is how the dye might effect the glue joints. However, except for the free floating panels, almost every joint is a mortise and tenon, so I suppose that as long as I keep the dye out of the mortise and off of the tenon, I should be okay. Right?
Any thoughts?
Replies
Jeff,
Dye won't interfere with a glue joint. If a drop of water is instantly absorbed, then it will provide a good glue surface, and when I tried this with a dyed surface, it passed. Still, if I can keep the dye off a glue surface I will.
I can't quite visualise your configuration, but it sounds like a candidate for not only dyeing, but also top coating and rubbing out before assembly.
Rob Millard
http://www.americanfederalperiod.com
Normally, there aren't any resins in dye so they won't have an effect on glue. There are some cases when I will color and seal certain parts before assembly, panels in frames for example, just because you can't get to the edges afterwards and seasonal movement can expose raw wood. As far as doing much more before assembly, there are a few things to consider. It's easy to have glue squeeze out, clamp marks and other nicks and dings as you put things together. You won't be able to do any sanding and even finger marks can show up from handling things. Every piece of wood won't accept the dye exactly the same and touching up or blending can be rather difficult. The disadvantages can be significant, perhaps increasing your time trying to fix something or causing an appearance problem that you can't fix. It's like putting the cart before the horse for most applications. There are just too many possible issues that can compromise and compound the finishing process. Why make things more difficult?
Yes, dye won't have much if any effect on glue strength. But, there also shouldn't be any particular problem with getting into corners. Dye is best applied very wet, essentially flooded on. I often use a sponge. Evenness comes from saturating everything, not from how evenly you wipe it on. As long as you don't leave puddles in the corners you would be fine, at least as long as you haven't got glue squeeze out. (Wiping down with naphtha will reveal glue spots.)
The downside of pre-finishing is the limits it places on fixing things that don't glue up exactly in the place you had planned. It's awfully easy to end up with a joint where one side is 1/64 or 1/128 proud. If not already finished that merely takes a few passes with a plane or sanding block. if pre-finished you have a tricky repair to make.
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