Bleaching Question

As a beginner in this project, I have removed the varnish from my 1953 Old Town Canoe. I have seen several different bleaching agents mentioned. I have been told to be careful with teak remover as is can be tough on the wood. Any tips/ comments /suggestions would be appreciated

Thanks
Dave

bleaching

dgjdive,

Did you try the forum search option? Lots of good info in there. Do you want to bleach the entire canoe, or are you just removing a stain? I have never used bleach on a canoe, so I can't offer any advise. Personally, I see no reason to bleach. After stripping and a good scrubbing with hot water and 'TSP", you should have a nice patina to put your new finish on. Any stain, (ie Grandma spilled some wine or blood from a big fish that Grandpa caught,") is part of the canoes past that you need to keep as memories. When looking at a large group of old canoes at the assembly, you will see all types of finishes, from bone white to very dark original varnish. Bottom line is, it's your canoe. Do whatever makes you happy. Fred

Yes, I agree, dont use bleach unless the canoe is black with water stains. The bleach takes all the natural color out of the wood and you end up needing to use dye or stain to get it back in. As Fred stated, some of those old "scares" are just part of the history of the boat.

HI Dave,

Search the forums for "Te-Ka" and "Snappy". Te-Ka and Snappy Teak-Nu (I laugh every time I see that name) are two-part cleaner/bleach solutions made for teak decking. I'm not sure what you mean by "teak remover", but these are excellent products for cleaning wood. One or both says not to use them on mahogany, but in my experience with old wood, they work fine on mahogany, cedar, oak, ash, cherry and spruce (at least). It may be that some of the so-called mahoganies are adversely affected, I don't know.

These do not remove the color of the wood (but I've seen canoes treated with sodium hypochlorite- laundry bleach or pool chlorine- and this wood does look very washed out). Now for the problem- the makers call their bleaches "scrub-less", but then they tell you to scrub the bleaching wood with a bristle brush. I do "scrub", but not really- I just lightly brush the surface with a soft nylon-bristled brush- a hospital surgical scrub brush is perfect if you can get your hands on one. That wetted wood, particularly spruce and cedar, will really get damaged if you scrub too much. But not to fear. Just apply according to instructions, brush lightly, and keep going. These chemicals remove dirt, great, remnants of varnish and paint, and in doing so they brighten the wood, but they don't remove the aged appearance of the wood. You'll be amazed at the beauty of the freshly cleaned wood, but then as the rinse water dries away you'll think the canoe is pure white. Again, not to worry- the canoe needs a light sanding after all that water, etc., and then as you put on that first coat of varnish, you'll see the lovely rich appearance of that 1953 cedar come back in all of its glory.

This is just my opinion- I don't like stains at all, unless they're necessary for matching new wood to old, and then I prefer dyes (others have written about stains vs. dyes here, and you can find plenty on them in woodworking forums). Thus, I wouldn't do anything that necessitated staining the wood afterward. These two products are the best I've tried, but there are a variety that I haven't tried. I just know these work well, they don't make the boat look new, they do clean the wood beautifully, and they don't necessitate the use of any stain afterward.

Michael

scrubbing

Michael -- plastic surgical scrub brushes are available from Lee Valley --

http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.aspx?c=2&cat=2,42551&p=10259

Are they what you mean? They are good for cleaning really dirty hands, and for other scrubbing chores.

Hi Greg,

This particular type of surgical brush has bristles that are a bit short for getting into the bilges between ribs, but on the other hand, these are pretty soft and so will go easy on the wood. Snappy Teak-Nu sells or sold (still?) their 2-quart package of teak cleaner with two brushes which have longer bristles but are considerably stiffer than this type of surgical brush. These require more caution. But an added bonus of the Snappy brushes is that they are color-coded so you don't mix them up with respect to which part of the 2-part solution you're using (the solutions are also tinted).

When I was with a couple of medical schools, I got these same brushes that Lee Valley carries- they're wonderful for all sorts of delicate jobs. $1.60 per pair ain't bad, either! Oh, and while the color-coding is nice, it's really not necessary. Just rinse your brush (whatever kind) with water after part 1 and before brushing part 2. And as a final note, the real point of brushing (to me, on the thin hull of a canoe) is to evenly distribute the solutions on the wood to ensure even cleaning and even neutralization. No need to really scrub.

Michael

I have to qualify my remarks by pointing out that I have not had occasion to use bleach on any of my canoes, but as a woodworker I have come to rely primarily on oxalic acid for removing stains from wood. What i like about it is that it does no perceptible harm to the wood. It doesn't work on all stains, but if it doesn't, no harm is done. I would strongly advise against the use of any chorine bleach is it seems to attack, weaken and discolor the wood fibers. Oxalic acid also has the virtue of being cheap. Here's a link to an article that may have more information than you really care to know about bleaching wood: http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplrn/fplrn165.pdf