how to whiten wood

[fenris82]

hi,

i need to whiten a piece of wood, which will then be branded and coated in melamine lacquer. what would be the best way to go about this? does wood bleach make wood white or simply lighten the colour? i have used white wood stain in the past but it didnt seem to do a whole lot. i would use acrylic paint but the melamine would melt it and i dont want to gum up the branding iron with melted acrylic.

the wood is already pale so i thought maybe liming paste might do something to give an overall white appearance, ive not used it before though so dont know if that is true, and thought it might cause problems with getting the melamine to adhere.

any suggestions much appreciated!

 

[AndyT]

Hi fenris82.

I think you will need to give us some more information if you want to get any useful answers.

The simplest approach is to choose a pale wood - maybe sycamore or birch would be suitable - but you don't say whether you already have some wood (presumably not light enough) that you want to use. Holly might be a good choice, but not if you want to make something big, as it's generally only available in small sizes.

Most pale woods will darken over time, with exposure to sunlight. Conversely, some dark woods will be bleached by sunlight. So an answer that is good now may be less good in ten years time - will that matter?

 

[Harlequin]

this ?

http://www.rustins.eu/Details.asp?ProductID=816

 

[Rubberfrog]

Hi

when I served my apprenticeship as a french polisher, we used to used oxalic acid in crystal/powder mixed with hot water, not pleasant stuff to use, but did the job. I remember the awful taste you got when sanding afterwards.

hope this helps

RF

 

[KimG]

Wood bleach doesn't make it white like paint, I doubt anything would, Chlorine based bleach would possibly destroy the fibres.
Wood Bleach does make it very light though, so if you are starting off with a pale wood it is probably going to be the best solution.

 

[jurriaan]

If you're not afraid of dangerous chemicals:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAxmuuxK5lU

is the process of bleaching wood by using hydrogenperoxide, combined with ammonia as an accelerator