This is a game I’m making for a two year old. I love working with hardboard but it has no tolerance for water so you can’t clean it unless you seal it.

I made another tic-tac-toe game that was a bit of a fail since I used the wrong technique to seal it. Well it worked but it was labour intensive and the parts were sticky for a couple of weeks after.

My friend Kristen of Chroma Wood Finishing had a look at it and told me that it was possible to get a piano finish on this material. She has given me some suggestions for a simple finish:

• Single material solution:  Using waterbased gloss latex paint, scuff/sand to level between coats w 320 grit.
• Two material solution: Use a few layers of latex paint from dollar store then seal with water-based gloss sealer or minwax polycrylic clear gloss.

I’m glad to hear this as research reveals some more complicated techniques on the internet used by people who make stereo speakers.

So I’ve got the Minwax Polycrylic Clear Gloss. That was 20 bucks or so at Lowe’s. I did a test of a square with two coats of yellow acrylic paint and one coat of the poly. Seems pretty nice so I have done the first coat of acrylic on the parts. Tomorrow I’ll sand and go to the next coat and see where we’re at.