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will wood bleach destroy grain patterns?

2K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  cabinetman 
#1 ·
G'day everyone, this is my first post here.

I work as drum restorer in Sydney, Australia. I used to outsource most of my finishing work, but am now doing a lot of it myself. This week I have to stain and danish oil a drum kit. The outer ply on all drums is rock maple with a very nice grain pattern to it.

Although they are all mid '60s drums, one of the three drums is pinker than the other two as it had sat raw for some years, while the other two had stain and lacquer on them which i stripped off.

My question is, if I use a wood bleach to get the wood of all three drums to match, will I risk eliminating the beautiful grain pattern? If I don't bleach at all, is it such a big deal? I will be staining with quite a dark walnut colour. My research so far seems to suggest that an A/B bleach is the best bet for changing the wood colour as opposed to removing stain, but can't find info on this grain question.

Thanks guys

Steele
 
#2 ·
Wecome to the club.

I haven't had very good luck bleaching wood so I only do it when absolutely necessary. For me even after sanding, it seems to give the wood a very unnatural appearance. The best I can describe it is it gives the wood a bland look. Since you are going to re-stain the wood afterwards it should help but I would rather not do it.

I don't know what the finish color you want but you might be able to strip the other two drums and add a slight bit of red aniline dye to the two drums and a slight bit of green aniline dye to the one pink one. This would bring all three the same color before you stain them. Green counteracts Red.
 
#3 ·
Wood bleach

G'day Steele,
Wood bleach will only lighten the grain, not change it.
When wood is exposed to light it will change coulour.
E.g leave a piece of wood (eucalypt) in natural light & put a coaster on part of board & remove after ten days & see the change under coaster.
Yes you wil need a part A & part B for best results.
Regards
Lou Knee
 
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