Wood bleach
My thought is that the way the wood takes up the stain or dye vs showing the grain would have more to do with the wood type you're using than anything else, that and how it's cut. Never tried staining anything after bleaching it. And after that, it takes varnish well, and varnish can be picky as to previous surface treatment. It leaves the grain okay, once you rinse it off well with water. What has been used in the boat biz, traditionally, is oxalic acid ( ) - it gets iron fastener stains out of acid woods like oak especially well, prolly 'cos they are iron oxide based anyhow. If you have any excess bleach, the best way to dispose of it is to dilute it with plenty of water and then flush it down the toilet or wash it down the down a drain.Uhmmmm- not real sure what's in the wood bleach you're describing, but. I sure am glad that I did.Ī quick reminder – I always try to pour only the amount of bleach that I feel I might need. You may even still decided to use proper protection from the harsh chemicals by using goggles, gloves, and a mask.Īt first I was only going to do the outside of the little chest, but I then decided to work on the inside and bottom of the chest as well. Bleaching wood furniture is not hard at all, but I would recommend doing it outside where there is good ventilation.Be aware that bleaching the wood does dry it out a bit.I have done both of those methods in the past, but I did not this time. Some people suggest wiping down your piece with water in between coats, but I didn’t do that this time.Try the bleach out on an inconspicuous spot first to see how the piece looks before applying it all over.Also, I would suggest trying ta little test spot! You want to make sure that you have removed any stain so that the beach can penetrate the wood.I love that you can still see my name, ever so faintly!Ī few things to remember before bleaching furniture: However, you may want to do more coats of bleach depending on what type of wood you are bleaching and what “final” shade of wood you are trying to reach. After only two coats, I felt my little piece was the perfect color. After it was completely dry, I added on a second coat of bleach. Then, I let it sit outside in the shade to dry. I applied the first coat of bleach and I used my paper towel to soak up any excess bleach as I went. I think it is safe to say that there is a difference indeed!Īll I did was pour a little bleach into my jar and then I used my foam brush to wipe it on. This is the result of just one coat of bleach after it is fully dried.I decided to bleach just the one board on the left of the top (and one side of the chest) to see if it made a difference!.Paper Towels – I use them to soak up any “bleach puddles”.A Foam Brush – I only had a foam one on hand so that is what I am using for this project.An old jar (not one that we do not use for food) to hold the bleach.Bleach – I just use regular old household bleach for this project.While there are many different ways to bleach wood, for this bleaching wood furniture DIY, I only used these few simple supplies: I did decide to leave my name, Emily, faintly on the front.Īfter I was finished sanding, I then got to bleaching. After spending a lot of time carefully working on those spots, the whited out areas were gone, for the most part. Then, I took 60 grit sandpaper and went over the areas by hand. After sanding those areas many times with 80 grit, I finally began seeing some results. I used 80 grit and really pressed down on the painted areas. Luckily, I love primitive furniture and crude pieces – so roughing this little chest up a bit was alright by me. You have to remember to be very careful with low grit sand paper because it can really chew up wood. I then decided to go down to a very low grit of sand paper. You can see here just how dark this chest was to begin with.I really had to push down hard on the sander to get the results I was looking for.It was very strange, all the graphics were still completely visible – but just ‘white.’ I was eventually able to life the paint, but under the paint there was still the ‘shadow’ of all of the graphics. (Also, did I mention that I do NOT like clowns.) Using my hand sander, I began with 180 grit and realized that while it did remove the dark stain, it did not really do much to remove the painted areas. Again, I felt like all the painted graphics on the front made this chest a bit too childish for me. My goal with sanding it down was not only to remove the dark stain that I didn’t really like but I also wanted to remove the paint on the front. Next, I began sanding this sweet little chest.