I am about to begin building the interior of a large master bedroom closet. This will require constructing several carcasses for shelves and hanging clothes. The carcasses will be constructed of birch plywood, and receive a mahogany stain and polyurethane finish. Can I stain the carcass components prior to glue-up and assembly?
Michael Dresdner: You can, and you should. In fact, you should stain and finish the components prior to glue-up whenever possible, and from the sounds of it, that would include the entire job. It is called “pre-finishing” and makes the whole finishing process vastly easier.
