gary's wood bleach

Re: gary's wood bleach

darrin hill

so the vertical stripe and the star are the same board... its not an inlay... just burned a star on and applied the bleach...

Re: gary's wood bleach

john lucas

typically for Walnut you have to apply many coats of bleach. It does change some woods differently but I've been able to get walnut pretty light. Not white but much much lighter. I don't normally mess with neutralizing the bleach for my work because I found out it didn't matter. However if I wanted it to be food safe I think I would. I'm certainly not a chemist and can't even play one on TV so don't trust me on that.

probably not a good application

GaryG in MD

Darrin,

Here's my thinking:

Bleaching is supposed to be done to raw wood.

Trying to bleach wood with a finish already on it is probably not a good thing.

If you finish wood after bleaching, it will probably ruin the effect of the bleach.

Many finishes turn wood yellow -- no point in bleaching it if it's going to become yellow anyway.

Do cutting boards normally have a finish? If so, it would be an oil that soaks in, not a surface finish that would chip off. Oils yellow. I'm not sure I see a reason to bleach before oiling -- you just get a lighter color of yellow.

When I bleach, I use basically no finish -- perhaps a little fixative or a little wax, but even the wax changes the appearance. In general terms, I guess you might be able to spray lacquer on top of bleach -- never tried that. But you wouldn't do that for a cutting board.

Just thinking out loud here -- no great depth of analysis.

...GG

Re: probably not a good application

darrin hill

i've actually stripped it and sanded the star ... tried to get to bare wood.

but curious if it would be food safe... i.e. does the bleach degrade quickly?

Inlay?

John K Jordan

For a white star, would a maple inlay be practical? It might need to be fairly deep/thick to hold up as a cutting board.

Re: probably not a good application

john lucas

Bleaching leaves the wood lighter. Any finish changes the color which is why I recommend doing a test. Oils do yellow the wood more than some finishes but they also darken the original walnut so you still have the contrast. I'm still unpacking boxes but if I can find my bleach test pieces I'll show you.

John's recommendation of doing an Inlay is the best option. If you have a scroll saw just tilt the blade about 3 degrees and cut out the star with the two pieces stacked on top of each other. This depends on the thickness of the wood to get a piece that drops all the way flush and may take a test. I've found 3 degrees to be pretty close for 3/4" wood.

Is it food safe. I still don't have a scientific answer. My wife used to wipe down everything with bleach when we had the flu going around, and most of us bleach our clothes. Household bleach is less concentrated however. Personally I wouldn't worry about it once you've neutralized it and washed it clean before oiling the surface but then that's just me. I mean we are talking about a very minute amount of particles in that small of an area if in fact there actually is anything left after a thorough cleaning.

Did you neutralize the bleach? *LINK*

Dick Coers

And what bleach did you use? Clorox is a chlorine based bleach, 2 part is sodium hydroxide and strong hydrogen peroxide, and then oxalic acid can be used. Residual chemicals will remain in the wood, and could react with other cleaning chemicals. Here's a basic article.


http://antiquerestorers.com/Articles/jeff/using_wood_bleach.htm

wood bleach not chlorine-based

GaryG in MD

Wood bleach is quite simply lye and hydrogen peroxide.

The latter is basically just water with some extra oxygen that turns to gas and goes away, so that's not a problem.

Lye is lye -- it's used to make hominy, among other things. Any residual would be quickly washed away. ...GG