Oops

[Todd Carpenter]

Okay, I think I've committed the ultimate no-no. Long story short, I finally got around to one of the many refinishing projects I've got to get done. I pulled the already stripped and sanded piece out and found it covered in mold. I promptly mixed some bleach and water and got rid of the mold. I let it dry for about 3 days and then stained. This was the blotchiest, darkest I've ever seen a red mahogany get. I had to strip the old stain off this piece before because I goofed it up so I've seen the wood stained before and it was never like this. How do I fix this - I'm guessing it's bleach that messed up the wood, but how do I fix it? I've gotten most of the stain off - I just haven't re-stained for fear of having it do the same thing again.

Thanks
Todd

[Scott Holmes]

What kind of wood? Water or oil stain?

[Conrad Fiore]

Todd,
Did you resand the piece after the bleach wash? You should also neutralize the treated wood with a solution of 1 cup of borax dissolved in 1 quart of hot water if you used laundry bleach. Neutralize, rinse with clean water, and dry it thoroughly. Then resand because you have raised and opened up the grain with the water.

[Todd Carpenter]

Scott,

Not sure of the wood type - poplar maybe... and it's an oil based stain.

Conrad,

I did sand after the bleach wash, and now that I have removed the stain, (with a chemical stain remover), I have sanded again - do you think I should still use the borax?

Thanks guys.

[Scott Holmes]

The mold may have damaged the wood. Spaulting is a fungus or mold, I'm not sure which; if you don't stop the spaulting of the wood at the right time, it will decay to an unusable state.

So my next question, is the wood sound?

[Todd Carpenter]

It's sound. The mold was all over, but luckily it really was just on the surface, I was able to wipe it off with a dry cloth without it leaving any kind of stain behind.