Zinsser Wood Bleach Kit | Lighten Furniture, Floors, Cabinets, Trim | Removes Red Tone | 2-Step Brightening System | 2-Step 8 fl. oz. Kit (16 fl. oz. Total)

It worked perfectly in my stairs. Not just Lighten the wood as it cleaned it too. First I sanded, then I spread it with a sponge. The wood got very clear compared to what it was.

UPDATE: The process has been completed. I must say, I’m very impressed. Before and after photos show it all after just one application. Great product! Updated with extra photos. The last two photos are a before (technically during the very beginning) and after. The two front legs are shown side by side for comparison of the color difference. That is the actual dark color of the wood of that one leg as seen in that very first full chair photo. I had forgotten to take a side by side pic while it was dry, and only remembered after I had just applied the bleach treatment. It looks like a dark varnish because it is wet, but that was actually the mismatched dark color of that one leg. The final pic was taken the following day after the bleach process ran overnight. Simple and very effective product. Would absolutely recommend! :D I found a set of 4 Adrian Pearsall Dining chairs at a yardsale a couple years ago for an absolutely dirt cheap $10. They had been painted over numerous times in their lifetime and apparently reseated and/or at least reupholstered, but looked serviceable enough to attempt a rescue. After stripping the thick tan paint and original dark finish off the first chair, I found a beautiful honey-blonde mahogany under all that goop. Things were looking really good for the final outcome of this chair and got me excited to work on the rest, until I got to the left-front leg. That leg was an oddball mismatch of a significantly darker color than the rest of the honey-blonde wood. I put an extra coat of stripper on the leg, but that made no difference;this was the color of the wood. There's no doubt that it came from the factory like this, and I guess they figured, "use it, it's gonna have a dark finish over it anyway, who's gonna know?" I did some research, and talked with ppl in forums, and decided to attempt to bleach this leg to a closer match to the rest of the wood rather that stain all that great honey-blonde mahogany darker to match. Last night I did just a quarter sized q-tip spot test on the inside just to see, and there was a noticeable difference even within a few hours, so I decided to get one face and the edges started this afternoon. So far, things are looking good. Applied by pouring on just a little puddle of bottle A and smearing it around with a paintbrush, let it sit for about 7 minutes, then did the same using bottle B. Now it just sits. Currently awaiting the results which might take a while, but I'll update with more pics and results. Original: I’ve only just spot tested this for the moment, but after just 2 hours, there’s a significant difference in the color of the wood I’m trying to lighten. I’ll update with before and after pics and description once I get the process going. So far though, very pleased with the test outcome.

Works great. Giving four stars because it's pricy for such a small amount. Also I feel manufacture needs to be more clear in their instructions about the neutralizing process after application of this product. Overall it works great and does what it supposed to do.

I want repurpose some oak shelves, so after sanding to remove polyurethane, I wanted to lighten the oak to make it less reddish and appear more "sun bleached." To test it out, I applied the parts A and B as instructed to a section of the oak and after 24 hours, the wood was much lighter... so, it really works well! I would use again on projects but I'm not sure I will use it on the rest of the oak because it had a bit of a pale yellow shade from pigments remaining in the oak. But, bottom line, this definitely works and it is very easy to use.

(Note: Not sure why Amazon is asking me to rate the "sheerness" of a chemical product, so I left that one blank.) For whatever reason, wood bleach of any description is extremely difficult to find right now -- at least in the U.S. Apparently it's everywhere in Canada -- go figure. Most Canadian dealers, however, will not sell this product to you if you live in the States, so I was pleased to find it available on Amazon. This is the real stuff -- wood bleach. It will actually remove the natural color from most woods. You will find many people who tell you that you can bleach wood with regular laundry (chlorine) bleach, or oxalic acid. Maybe under certain ideal circumstances you can, but I've always found that those methods will remove -stains- from wood, but not much (or any) of the natural color. Also, oxalic acid is extremely toxic, and I'd rather not have to use it. This stuff will. It's the real deal. Two solutions, one of concentrated sodium hydroxide, and the other of concentrated hydrogen peroxide. Yes, there are some hazards with these chemicals, but if you follow instructions and wear appropriate gear (goggles, rubber gloves, filter mask) and take reasonable care, you will be fine. This works on all wood, although the effect is more pronounced on some wood than on others. I used it on red oak -- which it basically bleached to white oak, and also on mahogany, where the effect was more subtle, but still notable. If it doesn't bleach enough on the first pass, you can repeat the application and get a lighter shade on the second go. One pass worked on the oak; I needed two to get the shade I wanted on the mahogany. Each application cycle takes overnight, until everything is dry. Although I did find that you can accelerate this process somewhat with a heat gun. If you need to bleach a large area, you may want to look into whether this comes in larger containers, given the price. Since I was working on small objects, this package was just the right size, and the cost was reasonable for my application.

Works well on my oak table

Stained raw wood medium brown and it turned out a little darker than expected. I used this product in hopes to lighten it by a shade or two. Instead it turned out very dark grey with white haze on top. Second application made it even worse. Sanding wasn't removing the haze. Had to use household bleach and hydrogen peroxide 5 times to lighten it but it is still on the grey shade. Ruined my project, very disappointed with the results. Should've used regular bleach right away instead of this.

I used this wood bleach on brand new red oak in an attempt to get the color closer to white oak to match an old cedar chest I put a new wood front on. My plan was to get the red out then stain it to match the white oak - did not happen. This product does work however. It definitely will bleach your wood. I tested it on one of the wood dowel scraps I was planning to bleach on my cedar chest. When I tested the dowel it was laying flat and was easy to brush on evenly so it worked perfectly. Turned it pretty much white with a yellow tint. Had I been able to apply it to all the wood laying flat it would have probably worked way better so it lost a star because it's really only good in certain application conditions because I had to apply it to wood already attached to my chest (vertically). I couldn't leave the chest laying down to apply this to the wood laying horizontally because it couldn't get in between the dowels to the paint underneath because it would have damaged that. This product worked great when the wood was laying horizontal but not on vertical wood application. I had to apply twice because I tried to cover too much area the first time and the A was starting to dry by the time I applied the B so you can only work in small sections at a time. It will not work if A is starting to dry. A has to still be wet and it clearly states that in the instructions so that was my bad but that makes this product more time consuming to apply. The second time I just did small areas and it did bleach my wood, unfortunately it also stained and damaged my wood in certain areas. It must have pooled at the bottom because most (not all) of the damage was at the bottom. The wood warped and stained. I had to replace a lot of the wood because it was so badly damaged but was able to sand about half of the damage away because I was working with thick solid wood dowels. This product does state that it can damage your wood, believe it, so test it first because it will almost certainly damage your wood - to what extent depends on the type of application. I would never use this on anything that is old or valuable and only under certain conditions - where the wood is laying flat and there is no risk of getting this on other areas you don't want to bleach because it will almost definitely seep into other areas. If used very carefully it definitely will bleach your wood with some unintended consequences. Since I was working with oak it did seep into the grain and turn it yellow and I can't get what went deep into the wood sanded out nor could I neutralize that yellow color with the vinegar wash so that is why it lost another star. The wood also doesn't stain properly after bleaching for whatever reason. I have tested stain on the bleached wood I removed and on the non-bleached new wood scraps and it does not stain the same. So if you buy this test first and then be very careful. This is not a product for amateurs. The instructions btw were very clear. Brush on A wait 5 - 10 minutes depending on your wood (soft or hard) then brush on B while A is still wet. Then wipe it down with a vinegar wash. Not difficult to apply.