# Lightening White Oak



## jack819 (Dec 13, 2012)

I am in the beginning phases of building a desk. I have a ton of white oak that was given to me so I would like to use that even though it is not my favorite. Free wood is always good wood. What is the best way to lighten the oak as much as possible? I have finished some test pieces with some wipe-on poly I have laying around and it gives the oak that yellowish/golden tone that I am trying to avoid. I've done some research on 2-part bleach but have not had time to buy any to try. Any ideas?


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

The only way you are going to lighten the wood is with bleach. Personally I would leave well enough alone. Bleaching the wood will give it a gray appearance to it. Then you will end up staining it to counter the gray and end up nearly as dark as it was when you started.


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## RandyReed (Jul 30, 2014)

I did this for a customer awhile back. I made a spray no wipe which is an oil wipe stain that is cut way back with Naptha which allows you to spray it on wet and it drys really fast and you do not have to wipe it. I used a Sherwin Williams S64W11 white wipe stain. My mixing ratio was 20 parts Naptha to one part S64W11. I spray an even wet coat and it worked great. I then applied my dye stain right over top of the no wipe for a unique look.

I have also used a weak purple toner which will kill the yellowish tone in which you are referring too. Again, the toner I use for this is weak and sprayed wet. I used SW P63 vinyl basecoats (15% colorants) reduced with 85% thinner to make my toner. This is good to spray out first then apply your next stain and you will not see the yellow. If you used these SW products I could pass on my formula to you.


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## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

That golden tone youre referring to, assuming im thinking of the same golden tone as you, is a characteristic of oil based finishes. If its just that yellow color you dont like, id look to another finish, perhaps a water-based poly. They generally dont have the same yellowish tone, so that problem is solved. 

If your issue is with the color of the wood itself, i think a bleach is the only real way to lighten the color. At any rate, good luck mate


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