Sanding & Staining Begins

This day started with gluing the cabinet corners together. I still have a lot of sanding to do, so the cabinet is not going to stay together, but these joints can be glued and screwed together and the screw hole plugs inserted so the whole thing can be finish sanded. The side and back assemblies will still come apart at the mortise & tenon joints to work with the panels and case parts. Once it was all glued up I checked to be sure it was staying square while the glue dried.

Most of the rest of the day was spent sanding the drawer fronts. All done by hand because the parts are so small. I set up three sanding blocks with the three grits of paper I would be using so instead of changing the paper on the block, I just grabbed a different block. This way I can sand each drawer end completely and when I set it aside it’s done.

This evening I blew off the sanding dust then set up the finishing room to stain the drawer fronts. I haven’t gotten the stain sample boards back yet so I have no reference to compare the color with to make sure it’s on target, but this brand of stain is usually pretty consistent in color from batch to batch.

I do the inside faces first; apply stain, let sit for a while, wipe off the excess, then let this face dry enough I can turn them over and repeat the process on the outside face. By doing the inside first, if anything does get buggered up it will not be as noticeable because it’s on the inside.

I will not stain the whole inside of the case because that is just absolutely pointless and a waste of time, materials and your money. Unless you pull the drawers out and peer inside with a flashlight, you’ll never see any of that. I’ll stain what is visible, including with the drawers open. Everything does get a finish however. It’s important to have the same amount of finish on the inside as the outside so water vapor from the air is absorbed equally or it will bow.

And that does in another day.

See you tomorrow.

Doug