Finishing a cabinet

[Gary Puckett]

Just wondering Do you guys finish your cabinets with the backs on or off, or does it matter?

Thanks,
Gary

[Damon Nabors]

Most cabinets are not considered finished until the back is installed!

Gary, you would be a step ahead of the game if you start using prefinished plywood, then you do not have to finish the cabinet box. If it is a situation that I have to spray the box, I normally spray it with the back on. You will get a little blowback from the material being sprayed though. If is is a real small cabinet that is going to make it difficult to get the gun inside the cab and have room to spray, I will stain and clear prior to Assembly.

[Georgi Baltov]

Gary,

we always spray with the back off. It'll be very hard to get a proper finish in the back corners otherwise - I would imagine runs and missed shaded areas, etc.

But may be you have a hell of a sprayer/finisher. Probably the best thing is to try and see what works best in your case.

[Peter Walsh]

Gary,
I do all mine with the backs on. Since I build Libraries, some of my cabs are very tall. The back is an essential part of the cabinet structure (considering the weight of a fully-loaded bookcase) and I make sure it is glued and fastened firmly. A finish on the back would compromise the kind of glue bond I am looking for. On the flip side, these are larger cabs making things easier for finishing.
I use a HVLP turbine-based spray system that has very little blow back. Adjusting the turbine pressure just right helps this. It's all in the techniques of managing how much spray is delivered to avoid runs.
regards,

[Gary Puckett]

Thanks Guys,

I have been finishing my cabinets with the backs off and then install the back. My backs are slid in with a full dado on both side walls sometimes it gets pertty tight then stapled on an angle into the dado then 3/4 X 4 nailer goes on the top and bottom.( the backs are inset 1")

It gets time consueming and I just wanted to make sure I was'nt over working the job.Thanks to all.

Gary

[Jon Dieterlen]

I finish w/ the back off. I figure the time saved in staining and sanding with the back off, more than makes up for any extra time involved. I also feel I can do a better job on the finish with the back off.

Jon

[Gary Urlacher]

I try as much as possible to do the finish prior to assembly. I find that then I can lay my parts flat, get an even coat and also this
makes sanding between coats simpler. I used to finish after the cabinets were assembled but I found I was often cleaning dry fall
and some stains are a pain if you over lap. I found when doing the backs, It would over lap onto the sides, deck and top etc
when getting in the corners and that was not always a good thing.

I try to design now as much as possible with this in the back of my brain.

It also feels good to know that when the cabinet is assembled, Its done!

Things do not always work the same for projects so my recommendation is to do what works best for
you.

Cheers


Gary Urlacher

[Joe Dusel]

I try to use pre-finished plywood whenever I can, but if it's something that requires finishing, I finish it flat before assembly. I have only tried spray finishing assembled cabinets on a few occasions and it was a real pain in the butski. I really can't see how you can get a finish sprayed evenly inside an assembled cabinet. I also spray only waterbased finishes.

Joe

[Damon Nabors]

When I have to spray an assembly, I spray it assembled. It is not unusual for me to have a couple hundred parts in a job. I couldn't imagine trying to spray every individual part and having room to lay them out flat so they can dry. Using the proper equipment, spraying a cabinet shouldn't be a problem. As far as stain goes, I use ML Campbells spray and wipe stain with a Kremlin spray system. Build up is not a problem because its wiped evenly after spraying. After spraying a few hundred kitchens, I have not had any problem. I will say that switching to prefinished material has saved us a lot of labor.

[John J. Desmond]

Gary,
We build only pre-finished cabinets. All parts are sprayed through a spray machine. The backs are run through a roll coater. I say this to conclude with what we do on pre-finished parts. Where there is pre-finished against pre-finished we use a polyurethane glue. This glue is similar to gorilla glue except that it won't foam up as much. It seems to work well. It sure is nice not having to spray the inside of the cabinet.

John Desmond