Staining/Painting/Bleaching Mahogany White?

[alex grams]

I am making a carved sign for a friend with their family name on it. I carved it from Mahogany and need to dye/stain/bleach it white to match the house. I will infill/paint the letters black, so i need a method of getting the wood white and the letter infills black. Typically I would just sloppily paint the letters black, sand the board smooth (removing paint from the face of the board) and then just oil the board/spray with shellac and spray a topcoat on everything.

A few questions:

First on finish:
-Would I be better off just painting it white, or can i bleach it? I have never bleached anything FYI.
-If i bleach it, how deep does that affect the wood? If i bleach everything, then paint the letters and sand the top to remove the sloppy letter paint from the top, will that work? Or will I end up sanding through the bleached wood into fresh mahogany?

Second on Order of operations:

Should I just paint everything white, then fill the letters carefully by hand? or should I fill the letters, sand it smooth, then carefully paint the top white around the letters? I am not sure which is the easier/cleaner method.

The more i think about it, painting sounds like a better option. It avoid the needs for a topcoat after bleaching/etc.

I have some exterior/interior em2000 varnish from Target coatings. Would this work over exterior grade paint? Or should I just leave the paint as the outside surface?

[Scott Holmes]

Exterior paint needs no top coat. I would use an oil based EXTERIOR paint. Prime then paint both sides 2 coats. Then paint inside of letters. I'm guessing you carved out the letters?

[Prashun Patel]

(stalker alert)

If it were me, I'd paint it. Bleach is not going to get it 'white'. There are pickling stains that'll make it look whitewashed. But for opaque white, exterior, my vote is for an exterior paint.

[alex grams]

Scott,
Do you think a primer would really be necessary? I would think 2 coats or so of paint should work fine.

Also, do you find much advantage to oil based vs latex for exterior? I realize some advantages of oil, but enough to distinguish from latex for this purpose for a sign hanging on the front porch?

[Scott Holmes]

Primers help the paint stick better. 2 coats of paint will work. So will Latex House paint.

I see you're in Houston... If it's in direct sun go with the primed latex. The oil-based will yellow a bit in the sun.