Oil before or after glue-up?

Question

Whenever I see demonstrations of applying linseed oil to wood, people are always applying it to the finished piece.

Is this still the correct approach when working with cabinetry panels, that have been designed to allow for wood movement? I'm imagining that if the panel was oiled in the finished frame, and then exposed to a dryer environment, it could shrink and expose non-oiled surfaces.

Thanks. The answer had evaded my choice of google search terms, and those didn't come up as recommended questions when I entered my own question title. — baudot, Mar 19 '16 at 23:42

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 18 '20 at 08:31

Whenever I see demonstrations of applying linseed oil to wood, people are always applying it to the finished piece.

Is this still the correct approach when working with cabinetry panels, that have been designed to allow for wood movement?

I would recommend oiling the floating panels before assembling into the frame. This will have the benefit that when the frame shrinks, the panel that is revealed beneath is already finished. It's quite distracting to see a clear line on a floating panel where finish was not applied.

Also, if you oil ahead of time, it will provide a little resistance to glue when the entire frame is glued up so that the floating panel will not stick in the groove.

Oil before or after glue-up?

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