Zinsser Wood Bleach Kit | Lighten Furniture, Floors, Cabinets, Trim | Removes Red Tone | 2-Step Brightening System | 2-Step 8 fl. oz. Kit (16 fl. oz. Total)

(Note: Not sure why Amazon is asking me to rate the "sheerness" of a chemical product, so I left that one blank.) For whatever reason, wood bleach of any description is extremely difficult to find right now -- at least in the U.S. Apparently it's everywhere in Canada -- go figure. Most Canadian dealers, however, will not sell this product to you if you live in the States, so I was pleased to find it available on Amazon. This is the real stuff -- wood bleach. It will actually remove the natural color from most woods. You will find many people who tell you that you can bleach wood with regular laundry (chlorine) bleach, or oxalic acid. Maybe under certain ideal circumstances you can, but I've always found that those methods will remove -stains- from wood, but not much (or any) of the natural color. Also, oxalic acid is extremely toxic, and I'd rather not have to use it. This stuff will. It's the real deal. Two solutions, one of concentrated sodium hydroxide, and the other of concentrated hydrogen peroxide. Yes, there are some hazards with these chemicals, but if you follow instructions and wear appropriate gear (goggles, rubber gloves, filter mask) and take reasonable care, you will be fine. This works on all wood, although the effect is more pronounced on some wood than on others. I used it on red oak -- which it basically bleached to white oak, and also on mahogany, where the effect was more subtle, but still notable. If it doesn't bleach enough on the first pass, you can repeat the application and get a lighter shade on the second go. One pass worked on the oak; I needed two to get the shade I wanted on the mahogany. Each application cycle takes overnight, until everything is dry. Although I did find that you can accelerate this process somewhat with a heat gun. If you need to bleach a large area, you may want to look into whether this comes in larger containers, given the price. Since I was working on small objects, this package was just the right size, and the cost was reasonable for my application.

I want repurpose some oak shelves, so after sanding to remove polyurethane, I wanted to lighten the oak to make it less reddish and appear more "sun bleached." To test it out, I applied the parts A and B as instructed to a section of the oak and after 24 hours, the wood was much lighter... so, it really works well! I would use again on projects but I'm not sure I will use it on the rest of the oak because it had a bit of a pale yellow shade from pigments remaining in the oak. But, bottom line, this definitely works and it is very easy to use.

This is a good product to bleach wood from its own color as well as to some degree, wood stain. I am refinishing a 10x3.5 foot pottery barn farm table, which was solid wood. The bleach worked very well after I had stripped the table. There was only enough for one application, though. Unfortunately, the wood was Birch which has varying degrees of density. Stains, kept rising and appearing in the areas where the table had soaked up more stain. Due to time constraints in getting this product, I ended up going to a homemade bleach solution, which actually worked great. The first component was lye and the second component was 27% hydrogen peroxide, which can be picked up at pool supply stores. ($30 for a gallon). I use this several times without damaging the birch and getting the final bleach effect I needed. I probably would have gone through 10 sets of this bleach if I had not tried the homemade. I got my information off of YouTube. There are varying views about the homemade formula but if done correctly, it is excellent. (BTW, I wore a respirator mask in using this product. It is strong stuff.)

UPDATE: The process has been completed. I must say, I’m very impressed. Before and after photos show it all after just one application. Great product! Updated with extra photos. The last two photos are a before (technically during the very beginning) and after. The two front legs are shown side by side for comparison of the color difference. That is the actual dark color of the wood of that one leg as seen in that very first full chair photo. I had forgotten to take a side by side pic while it was dry, and only remembered after I had just applied the bleach treatment. It looks like a dark varnish because it is wet, but that was actually the mismatched dark color of that one leg. The final pic was taken the following day after the bleach process ran overnight. Simple and very effective product. Would absolutely recommend! :D I found a set of 4 Adrian Pearsall Dining chairs at a yardsale a couple years ago for an absolutely dirt cheap $10. They had been painted over numerous times in their lifetime and apparently reseated and/or at least reupholstered, but looked serviceable enough to attempt a rescue. After stripping the thick tan paint and original dark finish off the first chair, I found a beautiful honey-blonde mahogany under all that goop. Things were looking really good for the final outcome of this chair and got me excited to work on the rest, until I got to the left-front leg. That leg was an oddball mismatch of a significantly darker color than the rest of the honey-blonde wood. I put an extra coat of stripper on the leg, but that made no difference;this was the color of the wood. There's no doubt that it came from the factory like this, and I guess they figured, "use it, it's gonna have a dark finish over it anyway, who's gonna know?" I did some research, and talked with ppl in forums, and decided to attempt to bleach this leg to a closer match to the rest of the wood rather that stain all that great honey-blonde mahogany darker to match. Last night I did just a quarter sized q-tip spot test on the inside just to see, and there was a noticeable difference even within a few hours, so I decided to get one face and the edges started this afternoon. So far, things are looking good. Applied by pouring on just a little puddle of bottle A and smearing it around with a paintbrush, let it sit for about 7 minutes, then did the same using bottle B. Now it just sits. Currently awaiting the results which might take a while, but I'll update with more pics and results. Original: I’ve only just spot tested this for the moment, but after just 2 hours, there’s a significant difference in the color of the wood I’m trying to lighten. I’ll update with before and after pics and description once I get the process going. So far though, very pleased with the test outcome.

This product really gets the job done!! I wish they had this like in larger sizes, I had to buy so many for my project.