Oak getting it the right colour

[happyhero]

Hi

Recently got well into bleaching my previously painted oak front door. I looked up all the info on bleaching oak. I got the door stripped and then once dry it was too dark still.

I want that really popular light oak colour similar to pine in how dark it is but different if you know what I mean because obviuosly it is oak and not pine.

I first used oxilic acid, a bleech, to lighten stains etc in wood, and then neutralized it as you are supposed to do. I did this twice and it got better but no where near that light colour.

So as it tells you to do on any site with this, it says first use this acid then move onto calcium hypochlorite (swimming pool bleach), which I have done twice and neutralized twice too.

It now looks like driftwood in colour ie a bit whitewashed, which I am not worried about because this bleeching only effects the surface, it does not penetrate very far. So any sanding will bring the colours back, the key seems to be to fine sand it only, to bring it back. But still there are some colours in it I do not want, ie i'd rather stain it with something from the white colour it is now to bring it to light oak without bringing any unwanted colours out.

Question is what to stain it with, most stains, even weak ones make it too dark straight away, and I find the water based ones make it really patchy and horible. I want it to look natural light oak and then seal it.

Anyone any ideas please?

 

[breezer]

new door?

 

[Jasonb]

Problem is your door is likely to be made from English oak and the look you are after is that of American white oak .

Also whatever you stain the door to will change as soon as you put a finish on it particularly if it is oil based, les so if waterbased. And as soon as the UV light from the sun gets to the surface it will start to darken.

Jason

 

[happyhero]

Cheers Jasonb for that info, I think you are probably right. It seems obvious to me now that you point it out.

Is English oak naturally quite dark then? All the oak I have seen lately has been quite light so I suppose it is American light oak then.

You see a lot of dark stain furniture in shall we say older peoples homes, which seemed quite popular once.

I had been going on at my Mother in law to have her old dark oak looking dining table and chairs dipped which she eventually caved into and went for. The colour that came out was that lovely light American oak so we sanded it and sealed it and she loves it now. I was hoping the same would happen with my front door but when it came back from dipping it was surprisingly dark (It was painted white before). The dipper told me to let it fully dry out for a couple of days but it only got slightly better so that is when I got into bleaching.

But looking at the colour I now have it does not seem like I will ever achieve it despite the fact it is quite white now.

I have tried experimenting with water based and oil based colours I have from pine to walnut stain, but as you say as soon as they touch it they darken it significantly. Even clear laquer is not that good.

If I sand it much it gets darker. Seems no matter what I do it just can't wait to get darker.

I know there is this 2 part peroxide bleach I have not tried yet, which will actually lighten the natural colour of the wood as opposed to the ones I have used so far, which were supposed to lighten any dyes or stains. But I wonder whether it is worth pursuing this because I still am not confident I will achieve the right colour and it is proving hard to find a supply of the chemicals you need for it.

When I applied the walnut stain the result was darker than what I wanted but the best of all I tried and not too dark. So I am tempted with it as second choice.

I suppose what I am trying to do is turn English oak into American light oak and I suppose that is just not possible. I was hoping someone would have some chemical or stain or something I had not tried that would get me close.

What do you think, should I give up trying to get to that impossible light American oak. What would you go for in this case? Any guidance appreciated, and thanks in advance for any info.