I've cut all 30 doors for my kitchen and started sanding and staining them, thinking it would be best to do this before assembling. However, I'm concerned that I may need to sand the joints afterwards. Can anyone share their preferred process for finishing stained doors in a way that works well, especially if it were for your own home? Specifically, do you typically:
1. Glue, sand, then stain?
2. Sand, glue, then stain?
3. Sand, partially stain hard-to-reach spots and panels, glue, sand again, then stain?
Although the third option seems the most tedious, it might yield the best results. I'm just worried about getting a clean stain on my floating panels if I glue them together first. Thanks in advance!
3 Answers
Here’s what I typically do: First, I sand the panels. Then, depending on the finish I'm using, I might finish the panels too. After that, I assemble everything. Finally, I sand and finish the frames, and if I haven't done it already, finish the panels. If you're spraying, you can combine everything in the last step. I find wipe-on finishes a bit tricky for inset panels, so I tend to do the second one when necessary.
I would recommend the order of sand, glue, and then stain. Make sure you sand before you glue, but don't go to your final grit until after glue-up. Clean any excess glue from the joints to avoid issues later, then do the final sand. Depending on how off your joints are, you might have to sand heavier to align everything nicely before the final grit and stain. Staining should definitely be the last step.
Do you have issues with red oak shakers moving and exposing unstained panel edges?
I usually go with staining the tongue of my free-floating raised panels before gluing them up. Then I do some sanding and finish with more staining. It's a messier approach, but if you skip staining the panel tongue first, any wood that shrinks later will show raw edges that nobody wants to see!
I like your method! Option 3-a seems smart. Just leaving the heavy sanding for after the glue up makes sense to avoid ruining the stain.
The panels are 1/4” red oak MDF core and they take the stain wonderfully. I'm planning to wipe it on!