Has anyone fooled with bleach as a wood finish? A scrubbed finish?

[Scott Winners]

I am looking at building a work table for the kitchen, at a comfortable working height for my wife that is mmm, lower than standard countertops.

Rather than a film finish for the work top I am looking at leaving the wood (white oak) bare like an enormous cutting board, washing it with hot soapy water as needed and then washing with hot water: bleach (mixed about 50:50) once a month or so.

I did find one online entry here, from — Alan Peters, “Cabinetmaking: The Professional Approach, 2nd edition” (Linden):::: https://blog.lostartpress.com/2015/0...rubbed-finish/

I do have a 1x1x4 scrap of straight grain white oak going now, two sides shellacked and two sides hit twice so far with hot soapy water and once with 50:50 hot water and bleach. I am kinda leaning towards using the plainer flat sawn face for the table top rather than quarter sawn, but I am only a week in to a sample of a table top I would like to have last for 30+ years.

If you have one of these more than a year old, is quartersawn (edge grain) surface going to work for me, or do I need to go with a flatsawn (face grain) top surface?

Thanks.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Quarter sawn will stay flat longer. Plain sawn will become more and more wavy. Deep erosion of the summer wood on plain sawn can be a cool look. It might not be what you want for a kitchen table. I work for a designer lady who loves the look of plain sawn that has been scrubbed a lot. She gets a premium for it and generally has varnish as a last step. I see old cutting boards that end up this way by nature of use and cleaning.

I am really enjoying Lost Art Press! I wish there were more and closer pictures of the table.

[Prashun Patel]

I have a white oak outdoor bench. It has never been hit with soap or bleach. It is deteriorating after about 7-10 years.

If I were you, make your worktable as you see fit with or without a finish, but make a few extra cutting boards that reside permanently on your table. Work on these. You'll thank yourself a decade out.

We do this for our kitchen island (walnut). Three years later it looks as new as the first day.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I am a little confused by it being called a finish. It seems more like a way to maintain unfinished wood and have it stay attractive. Like the holystone for teak decks of ships. I have not messed with wood bleach in a while. I use Clorox + soap & water, but like the designer lady follow up with a finish. My go to is Watco Butcher Block Oil.

[John TenEyck]

There was a good article in FWW a year or three ago about bleaching wood. The author turned some wood as white as snow through multiple bleachings. I remember another article, maybe 5 years ago, about a soap finish, often used in Scandanavian furniture, and he may have started by bleaching, too. Worth a look.

John