Mouldings - stain before or after fixing?

[RogerS]

I have some fairly intricate mouldings to fix to a longcase mahogany clock. Not sure whether to pre-stain the mouldings before fixing them.

Also a bit concerned that if I apply stain to the main body of the case after the mouldings have been fixed then I might get pooling in the corners where the mouldings sit on the main body. So then started thinking about staining the main body before fixing the mouldings...then realised I'd need to be careful to leave an area stain free for glue...which might get interesting.

No spray facilities available.

Any recommendations very welcome.

TIA

 

[AndyT]

One quick thought (not from experience) - if you've not made everything already - would it be possible to make the mouldings with a long tongue down the back, to locate into a groove ploughed on the main body? That way you would have a definite place for the glue (ie inside the groove) which would be easy to keep free of finish. You could even finish the body and plough the grooves afterwards, exposing fresh wood to glue to.

 

[RogerS]

One quick thought (not from experience) - if you've not made everything already - would it be possible to make the mouldings with a long tongue down the back, to locate into a groove ploughed on the main body? That way you would have a definite place for the glue (ie inside the groove) which would be easy to keep free of finish. You could even finish the body and plough the grooves afterwards, exposing fresh wood to glue to.

Nice idea but these moulding will be meeting up at all sorts of angles etc and so getting any groove spot on will be nigh impossible. In any event, making the moulding will be that much more difficult if one has effectively two rebates on the reverse side to the moulding. Much easier and safer to run the moulding off a larger piece then bandsaw the moulding off and smooth the back prior to fixing.