Bleaching wood ?

[Woftam]

Any one have any experience with bleaching wood ?

I've never been happy with my pig gun with regard to the woodwork. So when I picked up an already sporterised MkIII* forearm and a homemade butt a while back the mind started ticking over.

One thing that really annoys me (and its a purely personal dislike) is sporterised forearms with the cutouts for the rear sight protector and charger bridge. To me they stick out like the proverbial dogs balls and (to my mind anyway) really detract from the look of the rifle.

So with some brass wire armourers used to use, a few bits of scrap wood, some fine files and a lot of tedious work I've plugged the gaps.

However the scrap wood is so much lighter than the coachwood. The plan is to bleach everything as light as possible and then use a dark stain.

Trouble is I know nothing about bleaching wood - other than you get the appropriate stuff from paint stores.

[DuncaninFrance]

Not sure if this is any help G but it might be.

http://www.woodzone.com/articles/wood_bleach.htm

http://home.howstuffworks.com/how-to-bl ... iture1.htm

http://www.craftsman-style.info/finishi ... aching.htm

http://alsnetbiz.com/homeimprovement/oxalic_acid.html

[Woftam]

Thanks Duncan,

I'll give them a look.

[Aughnanure]

Graeme,

I know that telling you this so late in the day is not very helpfull but there is a way to get matching wood and at no cost other than some time.

With the widest possible chisel cut pieces out of your forend from the bottom of the barrel chanel and use them as veneers to cover the patches.

Alternately, if you are going to have a contrasting forend tip then saw two parallel cuts in the channel, drill touching holes or cut down with a chisel to free the back of the bit that you want. Then free the bit(s) from the forend with a chisel. Use any old bit of stick, carefully fitted of course, to fill the hole that's left. Then glue on your forend tip or make it with an extension to fit the hole.

Another spot to get thin pieces from is the sides of the magazine well.

Hope this helps next time.

[Woftam]

I know that telling you this so late in the day is not very helpfull but there is a way to get matching wood and at no cost other than some time.

It ain't as late as you think, this particular project has made no progress since I posted this. Thanks for the info though, I don't know if I'll use it this time but good to know.

Now I have another issue with this project. The butt (not coachwood) had a smear of plastic wood on the side which was annoying me so I pulled it off. Looks like they drilled the hole for the stock bolt to wide around the bolt head and so there is a hole there.

Now I don't think a veneer will be strong enough. Current plan is to mix some sawdust from sanding with the woodstain I plan to use, add in clear resin and use this to cover the hole after staining but before varnishing.

Any thoughts ?

[DuncaninFrance]

I think I would have a test run using a piece of scrap wood first to make sure it worked but I am sure you were going to do that anyway

[Aughnanure]

Graeme,

It's been my sad experience that sawdust goes very dark, so do some experiments with much lighter dust first; I'd try a criss-cross of fine shavings and build up over the hole, using the bare minimum of epoxy.

Put a waxed plug in the stockbolt hole before you start or you might end up having to bore out some of your patch

[Tom-May]

Graeme,

Without seeing the damage it's hard to advise, however, if the material in/around the hole to be filled is strong and stable enough to function, so that the filling is puely cosmetic, I would suggest a wax 'stopper' as used in the furniture 'finishing' trade. These hard waxes are often available from DIY and timber merchants, if that's a no-go, you may be able to scrounge some from a local French Polisher (but wait until you've decided the final colour as any stoppers or fillers would require hand painting) unless you stop the hole and veneer over it.

As to your bleaching problem, the veneering the inserts idea looks promising, but it would mean removing and trimming the inserts to take the veneers, then matching grain orientations etc.

If you wish to bleach the wood, I would recomment the oxalic acid method mentioned in an earlier post, but do it in a very well ventilated area with the appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and ensure that the wood is thoroughly degreased/de-waxed first(so rub it down well with both White spirit to remove any way and meths/ethyl alcohol to de-grease) - and test on a scrap/hidden piece first.

I would recommend that you avoid chlorine (domestic) bleaches where possible, they are very damaging.

As an alternative to bleaching, you could just try colour matching. Oil a small patch of the inside timber (or a piece of scrap coachwood) as a colour guide and using a length of the wood used for the insert and a couple of pigments (and dyes) from an art shop, try matching the colour achieved (remember to oil it to get a proper colour match). Once you've got your colour match, you can try painting in the inserts.

Just throwing an idea or two into the pot.

Tom

[Woftam]

Much food for thought there gents.

Will post some photo's later today on the current progress, or lack thereof.

[Woftam]

Here is what I am working with. So far I have used full strength oxalic acid about 3 times on each piece of wood. Any comments/suggestions welcome.