All, I have purchased two old white oak cabinets from a high school chemistry lab. The cabinet carcasses are white oak plywood. The drawers, webs, and face frames are solid white oak.
Apparently, the cabinets sat in front of windows and got a lot of sunlight and side of the carcass and some of the drawer fronts are really dark.
What is the best way to lighten the plywood and solid wood?
The cabinets will wind up in the garage and used for tool storage.
Steve Pippins
Replies
I suppose you could bleach them, but I'd be tempted to take a scraper to them and see what happens.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
Forsetgirl, thanks for the feedback.
I had thought about bleach but wanted to avoid the chemical treatment.
Steve
This isn't an option for you, but I'll "share" the story anyway: The first wood I ran through a planer was oak from a dismantled cabinet which had been sitting on our deck (Great Northwest, rainy) for 2 years. It was gorgeous when it came out the other side. Wheeee! that was fun!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
Forestgirl, thanks for sharing.
I saw from your profile that you were from the PNW. one of these days, I plan to get back up there. I spent a couple of years on Vancouver Island as a teen.
My assumption is that the oak from the dismantled cabinet was not from local wood. I do not recall ever seeing an oak during my couple of years there. Of course, I was young and may not have been all that observant.
Steve Pippins
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