painting hardboard

cc wrote: > Using 1/8" dark brown hardboard as drawer bottom for very small > drawers with little load..color is too dark(brown)..can you paint > hardboard and will it stick to the slick surface? Assume a slight > sanding to rough the surface and enamel paint will work..anyone tried > this? >

I'd use low cost, prefinished paneling.

Hard board will soak up a ton of paint and still look like crap.

Lew

Yes you can paint the hardboard. My grand mother and brother in-law do paintings on hardboard/Masonite, the smooth hardboards woul probably be the easiest to paint and keep clean.

Actually, artists use Masonite/hardboard to paint on, the smooth side.

An artist's rendition might look neat on a drawer bottom, but wouldn't expect it to wear very well.

Think I'll stick with the prefinished panel.

Lew

We restore vintage travel trailers and some of our work has been done on trailers from the thirties and forties which were originally skinned in masonite and painted. We just prime and paint the replacement masonite. No sanding required. The trailer on my home webpage is skinned in masonite with a canvas covered roof! Check it out here.

Good luck,

cm

"cc" wrote in news:1173329553.614728.254650@

I've done it... In fact the paint was a little wet the next day at the train show. ;-)

Some materials you can get away with not priming before you paint, but definately prime the hardboard. If your primer's naturally thicker, that may be a good thing. (Don't apply a thick coat, that has a tendency to chip and flake.)

I put two coats of white primer on the hardboard before I felt it was ready for the sky blue. Remember, it's easier to go light to dark than dark to light.

Puckdropper

But what a treat and surprise when you looked inside the drawer. LOL