Question About My Maple...

[onealguitars]

So I have a couple of bookmatched maple tops ready to go, and one of them has a darker piece of wood on one side due to the natural color of the tree. Can I bleach this to a desired color before finishing without harming the wood or affecting the finishing process (which will be quite some time after bleaching)?

[Ripthorn]

You can, but household bleach won't do the trick, it's much to weak. There are three kinds of bleach that could possibly be used, with household bleach being one, but the least useful, if I recall. The good stuff is not cheap and is getting harder to find due to restrictions. As long as you neutralize the bleach properly, there should be no problems with finish compatibilities. Just as a side note, I personally love the variation in natural wood, so don't think that you ncessarily have to get your wood to a blank canvas state.

[MiKro]

Wood Bleach,also known as Oxacylic acid is the most common way to bleach wood. It can be found at mos twood working stores. Woodcraft and Rockler. When bleaching maple I have found that it tends to bleach to a pink color though. So test on scrap before using on your work piece.

MK

[bob123]

Lets see a picture of this wood

[onealguitars]

I will try to make it out to the wood shop in the next day or so and get a pic to post. Thanks for all the input thus far. I will definitely test on a scrap piece...have part of the same board with the dark area in it.