Wood bleach

[marlinman93]

Something new to me suggested by a friend after I was frustrated trying to get my newly made forearm to match the buttstock on my Ballard offhand rifle. It's sold at Ace Hardware and is oxalic acid powder. I stripped my forearm I'd just finished after it was too dark, even with no stain on it! The wood looked close, but as soon as I applied the first coat it turned dark, and was a big disappointment. After my friend told me about wood bleach I stripped the finish off and mixed up the powdered bleach with hot water as instructions described. This is nasty stuff, so I did it all outside and wore my respirator I use to paint cars!
After a light sanding with 600 grit, I scrubbed the wood with the bleach, and wiped it dry. I couldn't tell much difference, so kept repeating for a total of 5 times before I noticed it was getting lighter! I kept comparing it to the buttstock, but went a little lighter as I thought it might darken slightly with finish. I stayed away from the horn tip I built as it's epoxy and wasn't sure how the acid bleach might affect it?
Once it was done I set it aside in the sun for a couple days before applying finish again. I gave it a light sanding with 1200 grit, and applied 6 coats of Wipe On Poly, sanding before each subsequent coat, and after the last coat dried, all with 1200 grit. The result is a much lighter forearm that matches the buttstock a lot closer.

Before:


After:

[AJMD429]

.
Wow that is MUCH nicer...!

I used reular 'household bleach' on a gun stock as a kid, but it has been so long I don't remember what gun/situation it was. I think just an older 22 LR with a 'hardwood stock' I was trying to lighten up. I remember it worked pretty well. I used a 'maple' stain on it after the bleaching.

[Bill in Oregon]

Vall, your effort paid off handsomely!

[GunnyMack]

Valley, nice job.
I was taught by my stock making instructor to use a 35mm film can with warm water and just sprinkle about a 1/4 top of OA in and stir. Not overly caustic but enough to bleach a whole stock most of the time, no gloves needed. I learned this the hard way, I spilled some kind of solvent and grabbed a blue shop towel to wipe off the stock I was working on and proceeded to make the dye run into the grain. Ever since when sanding a stock ill do the same mix to raise the grain and lighten it up. It's a subtle lightening for sure.
Now, the sun light will darken wood so you very well could have been right back where you started .
Ya done good tho!

[Rimfire McNutjob]

That's a really good match. I can't imagine how you can get that close. It's just so hard to tell until the finish goes on.

[marlinman93]

That's a really good match. I can't imagine how you can get that close. It's just so hard to tell until the finish goes on.

The picture is with the final finish on it. But you're right about not knowing before! I had to guess about how much lighter to go to hopefully have it match with finish.

[marlinman93]

Valley, nice job.
I was taught by my stock making instructor to use a 35mm film can with warm water and just sprinkle about a 1/4 top of OA in and stir. Not overly caustic but enough to bleach a whole stock most of the time, no gloves needed. I learned this the hard way, I spilled some kind of solvent and grabbed a blue shop towel to wipe off the stock I was working on and proceeded to make the dye run into the grain. Ever since when sanding a stock ill do the same mix to raise the grain and lighten it up. It's a subtle lightening for sure.
Now, the sun light will darken wood so you very well could have been right back where you started .
Ya done good tho!

I was told the oxalic acid bleach works better in warm sunlight. A woodworker I talked to said they always stripped and treated old furniture out in the warm sunshine when using this bleach. He said it works better that way. He also told me they let it sit for 60 minutes before rinsing, but cautioned that can burn the wood, so I went with shorter times and just did more times to sneak up on it.
I had a heck of a time getting the bleach crystals to dissolve in the hot water. Even when I was done I still noticed some crystals in the bottom of the small jar that hadn't dissolved.
I was pleasantly surprised to see the dark veining in the wood didn't seem to bleach out, and looks even darker once the forearm was done.

[GunnyMack]

I too have seen it not completely dissolve.
I meant to not leave wood out in direct sun for long amounts of time as it will sun burn, soft woods are worse than hard woods when left outside.
Next time I bleach something I'll try it in the sun.

[Ysabel Kid]

Nasty stuff, but darn it worked out swell!

[marlinman93]

As I mentioned I'd never heard of this stuff, but since mentioning it I've had to guys tell me stories about it's use in ship decks! One said the Coast Guard ship he was on was an ex Navy ship that had wood decking over the steel to make it less slippery. He said about every 6 months they mopped the decks with oxalic acid and the deck came out looking like new. The other did woodwork on yachts and said they used it to bleach out wood railings and decks when restoring them on ships.

[Paladin]

I have been educated. Thanks

[marlinman93]

With a bag of oxalic acid leftover, I thought I'll never use it all in my lifetime. Then another old Navy guy told me it's great for dissolving rust too! So might use some the next time I'm working on old rusty car parts!

[GunnyMack]

Yes, a 1lbs box will last a very long time!
I haven't tried it on rust.