Pre-finish - how do you do it?

[Worthing]

When you pre-finish materials before a glue-up, how do you handle a shelf going into a side panel? The joint is Festool Dominoed and I'd like to keep the finish off the side panel where the shelf will butt up against it. Obviously tape would keep this from happening, but if you keep the tape there for the 2-4 coats of finish it seems pretty likely the tape will tear instead of coming up with a clean line. On the other hand, pulling the tape when the coat is still wet seems like alot of work retaping for every coat of finish.

Finish is going to be GF Endurovar. Is it just going to be easier to assemble first?

Here's the item in question.



TIA,
Shane

[jteneyck]

For that design I would assemble before finishing. I would make the top and back removable so they can be finished separately. That would allow me to be able to spray the shelf and sides, as well as inside the cabinet behind the doors w/o issues. I'd also be able to finish the top and back separately.

In full disclosure, I have a gun that can spray at any angle, including upside down, so I no longer have to think about gun orientation. But I think I could spray that project with my old gravity feed HVLP gun w/o much trouble, too.

John