Blackened oak

[Glenn&Karen]

Has anyone else experienced the blackening of internal oak by water leaking in through a nearby window?

We think the water came in the window seal and ran along under the gunnel until it met an oak faced bulwark partition, where it resulted in a black (very black!) area around 300 mm dia. We think the timber is oak faced board but the damage has gone right through.

Have tried Rustins 2 part wood bleach but not with much success. Any help appreciated as looks a mess!

[onionbargee]

Oxalic acid is used to bleach out this, it's water reacting with the tannin in the wood, i worked with very expensive woods like walnut for gun stocks years ago, but not oak. We used to use it, i think it's made from rubarb leaves, and quite poisionous.

[Grace and Favour]

One can puchase Oxalic acid on ebay - - (it is present in Rhubarb leaves - and it is poisonous to humans)

 

However, I too have used Rustins 2 part wood bleach in teh past - and found that it took half a dozen careful applications to get rid of most of the stain. But - be aware, that the bleaching also removes the yellow and brown tones in the oak, and you will need to very carefully re-stain with these colours in order to get a reasonable result.

 

If you don't mind taking it very steady, and a deal of time and experiment, you can achieve a passable result.

 

Another route would be to purchase some oak veneer, and glue over the current structure (?)

[onionbargee]

get 25 litres of Rustins ebony stain, and a crop sprayer, and some very bright lightbulbs.

[bowten]

Has anyone else experienced the blackening of internal oak by water leaking in through a nearby window?

We think the water came in the window seal and ran along under the gunnel until it met an oak faced bulwark partition, where it resulted in a black (very black!) area around 300 mm dia. We think the timber is oak faced board but the damage has gone right through.

Have tried Rustins 2 part wood bleach but not with much success. Any help appreciated as looks a mess!

It's probably too late to do anything with the oak faced ply.The ply itself is probably damaged too if the water ingress as being going on for a while.This will mean you will have to replace the area with new.