Finishing Corn Hole Boards

[Kevin Wolfe]

I tried googling this and found that most people just paint their boards. I am just about done building mine out of 3/4 birch ply and would rather finish to a natural wood color.

Actually, I would like to stain a 3" boarder around the outside of the board (dark brown), stain a stenciled letter (last name initial same color as boarder) in the middle, and have the rest a nice natural golden color.

I thought about using tongue oil and oil based poly but have heard mixed reviews, not to mention some people say the drying time of the oil takes forever.

I would really like to get your expertise on how to stain and seal the boards so that they are nice and smooth and will hold up to the bags being tossed on them.

Also, as far as the stenciled letters go, I was thing about scoring the outline of the letter with a knife prior to staining in order to prevent fuzzy edges. Would that work? I'm afraid stain would just seep under tape. I was also considering routing out the letters to about 1/8" then filling with colored wood filler, sanding and then sealing.

OK, too many questions for now. Any help would really be appreciated.

Kevin

[Mike McCann]

when I made my boards i just sprayed some wb laquer on it a few coats then lightly sanded it. they hav held up now for over 6 years.

[Bruce Page]

Another vote for lacquer, it's tougher than most people think. I have a 20 year old aquarium stand that I shot with lacquer that looks as good as the day I shot it.

[Tim Fischer]

I originally painted mine with latex paint, but they were too sticky. So I overcoated with water-based poly, now they work great. I would think this would work fine over stained wood as well. Ours have held up for 3 seasons now of moderate usage.

[Kevin Wolfe]

Thanks for the replys. Any ideas on staining and how to keep it from seeping into untapped areas?

[Mike McCann]

yes tape the area you want to stain. spay your finish on the boards. peel tape stain then spray finish over the whole boards

[james maichel]

I just finished a set made out of 3/4" birch with a painted border. I used minwax polycrylic for the topcoat and it worked out great.

[Howard Acheson]

Thanks for the replys. Any ideas on staining and how to keep it from seeping into untapped areas?

It is almost impossible to keep a stain from getting under the edge of a tape. Unlike paint, the wood absorbs the stain carrying the color color under the tape.

As always, test your finishing plans on some scrap from your project. It's the only way to see how things are going to happen and look.

[Kevin Wolfe]

Will scoring the tape line with a knife help keep the lines crisper?