How to Lighten Wood and Reduce Orange Wood Tones
How to Lighten Wood & Reduce Orange Wood tones for a Natural Raw Wood Look.
At some point when upcycling a piece of furniture, you may come across a wooden piece that you love the style of and want to maintain in its beautiful natural wooden glory, without painting.
Now if the style you're aiming for is an airier, natural, lighter looking wood, and the piece you have in front of you has a much darker finish then you’ll need to strip and/or sand it back to expose the raw, unfinished wood underneath before you proceed with your next step.
If the underlying raw wood has orange and red tones, and that’s not what the look that you’re wanting, then you’ll need to neutralise those tones. Here are a few options to consider on how to lighten wood to reduce orange and red tones.
How to Lighten Wood and Reduce Orange Undertones with a Paint Wash
This is super easy! You’re essentially making your own ‘stain’ to reduce orange and red tones in wood, by purchasing a tan or whitish-beige paint (depending upon how light you want it to look), and mixing it in a plastic container with water, at a ratio of 3 parts water to 1 part paint (3:1). You can mess around with the ratios depending on how thickly you want it to go on, but personally, I prefer to stick to 3:1.
I usually use a chalk paint or a mineral paint to make my paint-wash.
Once you’ve poured your one-third of paint into the plastic container, and you’ve added your water, stir it well. Stir regularly throughout the application process to ensure an even outcome.
Remember; You’re using this as a ‘stain’ to take down the orange/red wood tones….you’re NOT ‘painting’ it. This means you’ll apply it with a brush/foam brush, a staining pad or a folded lint-free cloth, in long strokes in the direction of the grain.
Give it less than a minute to penetrate the wood, then wipe back the excess (in the direction of the grain). After only one application it will appear to lighten the wood and reduce orange and red tones, but if the wood still looks too orange for you then simply reapply and repeat the process until you achieve the wood tone that you’re wanting.
Any water-based stain will raise the grain of the wood, so when you’ve reached your desired colour, and once the wood and paint-wash are completely dry, very lightly sand over the wood (again, in the direction of the grain) with a fine grit (320) sanding pad to gently smooth down any raised wood fibres. Then, you need to just wipe away all of the sanding dust before applying your topcoat.
**Remember: Before you apply your paint wash, you need to make sure you’ve sanded back your wood by working ‘up the grit levels’. If you sanded your wood with 80 or 120 grit coarse sandpaper on it’s first pass, then sand it with 180 then 220 grit on it’s 2nd and 3rd pass, to prepare the surface for accepting your paint-wash ‘stain’.
If you have a beautiful, delicate wood veneer that you don’t want to damage, the a better option may be to strip it using a stripping solution, use an afterwash to remove stripper residue, then very carefully and gently sand at 220 grit to prepare a surface that will accept your paint-wash evenly. If you’re concerned that the wood veneer is super thin and delicate, then, if you prefer, you can sand by hand to avoid blowing through the veneer with an electrical sander. Be sure to remove all sanding dust before applying your paint-wash.
How to Lighten Wood and Reduce Orange and Red Tones with Wood Bleach
After I’ve sanded my wooden piece of furniture ‘up the grits’ to the point that the wood is ready to accept stain (or I’ve stripped it with a stripper then sanded with a 220 grit sanding pad), I then assess the colour of the raw wood before deciding whether to leave it as it is, or if I need to to do a paint wash or apply a wood bleach. If the wood tones are a very deep red or orange, I’ll sometimes opt for lightening the wood with chemicals first.
Using a wood bleach to lighten wood and reduce orange and red tones really is a great way to
neutralise those deeper tones. You can still apply a paint wash afterwards, or even a purchased wood stain.
If you neutralise orange and red tones with wood bleach, then you’re more likely to achieve the colour result that you’re aiming for with any follow-up stain you might choose to apply, since there will be no reddish tone from the underlying raw wood to interfere with the new colour outcome.
Some people use household bleach to lighten wood and reduce orange and red tones, but I prefer to use a designated ‘two-part wood bleach’. Household bleach may be the cheaper option but it can be more damaging to the wood fibres, and although it works quite well to lighten the wood and reduce orange and red tones, it removes the orange/red tones that are more a result of steeped-in dye or stain. To reduce the wood’s naturally occurring orange-red tones, and to even-out the variation of tones then wood bleach is the best option.
How to Apply Two-Part Wood Bleach to Lighten Wood and Reduce Orange Tones
There are different brands of two-part wood bleach. You should consult the instruction label on the brand that you purchase. I use the wood bleach pictured above, as it’s not very expensive and it’s easy to apply. Apply it outdoors whenever possible, as it’s a chemical treatment, but if you use it inside, be absolutely sure to protect your floor and to wear a chemical respirator mask (either a disposable mask or a reusable respirator mask with cartridges). Whether you apply the bleach outdoors or indoors, you’ll nonetheless need to protect your hands with chemical resistant gloves as bleach is caustic. Protect your eyes too!
*Make sure the wood is free of all sanding dust before you start!!
For the wood bleach that I use, I apply the solution with a fresh sponge, using one sponge to apply solution A, and a separate sponge to apply solution B.
According to the brand instructions, I first apply Solution A and leave it for 5-10 minutes. Before the surface dries I then apply solution B. The instructions stipulate that once solution B is applied, it needs to be left overnight, then the wood needs to be lightly sanded.
Now your wood will be lighter, and the orange and red tones will be much more muted.
Smooth down any raised wood grain with a fine grit sanding pad and wipe away all sanding dust and viola! You should now have your lightened wood which is more of a ‘blank canvas’. Now you can either choose to leave the bleached wood as it is, and seal it with a flat topcoat, or you may choose to apply a paint-wash (as in the photo above) or a store-bought wood stain before you apply your flat topcoat!
How to Reduce Orange Wood Tones Using Wood Stain:
For full transparancy, I have never tried this last option, but I know it exists as an option so I'll touch upon it.
You can neutralise orange tones in wood by using a wood stain that has blue undertones. According to the colour wheel, blue is the on the opposite side to orange, so, if you were to apply a wood stain with blue undertones it will help neutralise the orange tones in the wood. And by this rule, if the wood has red undertones, then applying a stain with green undertones helps neutralise the red.
However, if your aim is for the wood to be really light, then you may be better opting for either of the other two methods mentioned above.
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