Lighten River Red Gum

[Islandview23]

Hi All,
First post so be gentle on me!!!!
Probably been asked a million times before but here goes.
I have a very old slab of River Red gum (lovely grain and a bit distressed) with which I would like to create a small bench top. It's quite dark and rich in colour.
However my wife says its too dark.
Is there any way lighten the colour of Red Gum? I don't want make it blonde or completely get rid of the red/brown.

[BobL]

Give it time after a few years it will lighten up naturally. If you lighten it now, in a few years time it will be dull colourless and boring.

[ubeaut]

Hello Islandview23 and welcome to Woodwork Forums.

Oxalic acid will lighten it a little as will some household bleach but be careful. Do it in an inconspicuous place and make sure to wash the bleach off well with water and vinegar. Even water may darken the timber quite dramatically.

As bob said above it will lighten off over time and if bleaching it now it will darken a bit down the track. However it takes a fair while for that to happen and often isn't really noticed as you get used to the colour and don't realise it's darkening.

If it's dark now, whatever you do don't put any oil on it or it will go really, really dark almost into a black.

A photo would help, at least then we know what it looks like now, especially if it's distressed.

Cheers - Neil