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Thread: Bleaching yew

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
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    Cheltenham, UK
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    2

    Question Bleaching yew

    Hi everyone,

    I am making a table in yew and would love to be able to treat it so that the beautiful golden colour of freshly sawn wood remains. I am thinking of trying some kind of bleach but my instincts tell me that the wood will still darken on exposure to light.

    Can anyone suggest a finishing process which will prevent the wood darkening

    Thanks a lot

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Armadale
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    887

    Default bleaching yew

    are you talking about old timber
    If you want to rejuvatate the colour,
    wash it down with oxalic acid.
    if you want to take off the naturally time darkened appearance sell the timber to a restorer who need it and buy new!!

    astrid

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
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    Armadale
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    887

    Default new yew?

    sorry,
    I think yew will always darken over time.
    maybe a finish with a UV protector if such a thing is availabe
    astrid

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    USA
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    399

    Default Don't bleach..

    Woods that darken naturally will do so, in time no matter what you try.

    Bleaching, will make the woods color lighter, but then you won't have that golden yellow hue any more. Also, bleach is an acid, so, in time it will turn that light bleach color into a yellow color on its own, and it will be nothing like the color that you want.

    When you decide to coat the woods, you may want to consider using a "water clear coating," these coatings do not have an amber caste like nitrocellulose, and do not yellow overtime.

    Keep the table out of the sunlight.
    Last edited by MacS; 14th October 2007 at 05:10 PM. Reason: added text

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
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    Armadale
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    887

    Default oxalic

    oxalic acid is not a bleach in that it makes timber paler, its more of a rejuvinator eg if you put it on timber that is sun faded it wil,l in many cases restore the natural colour
    eg if you put it on weatherd timber it will bleach out the weathring but not change the natural colour ( itried this on cedar and it only freshened the colour didnt touch the old timber
    its available in hardhare shops safe and cheap

    astrid

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Cheltenham, UK
    Posts
    2

    Thumbs up Bleaching yew

    Thanks everyone for ypur prompt, generous advice.

    My best bet seems to be a "water-clear" finish as advised together with keeping the table out of direct sunlight. That's not much of a problem in our climate !

    Thanks again,

    Myles

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Nov 2022
    Location
    Finland
    Posts
    1

    Default

    Hi Myles, How does this bleached yew look at this moment? Was it a good method to ne used?

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