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Removing Dark Stain from Gumwood

JoeJoyce | Posted in General Discussion on February 18, 2020 12:57pm

This question may have been asked a 1000 times, but…..

I have a 1920’s house and am stripping off old very dark stain off the door trims, china cabinet and molding.  I believe most is gum wood.  I used CitriStrip and got a top layer off, but the wood is still quite dark, almost looking like it was not stripped.  This is our dining room and I don’t want to use a chemical stripper like 5F5 because the fumes are very dangerous.

Any thoughts on other methods?  Interestingly I used the same stripper on oak and it removed the stain quite well, so methinks the issue is the pine trim absorbing the stain.

Thank you!  Joe, Boston MA

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  1. DanH | Feb 18, 2020 02:44pm | #1

    You could try a "wood brightener" of "wood bleach", one containing oxalic acid.

  2. florida | Feb 18, 2020 05:22pm | #2

    Have you done any sanding to see if it's the color of the wood or if you can eliminate it at all? Are you sure you've removed all the stain? If you have and it really is stain try some regular bleach first and if that doesn't get it try oxalic acid.

  3. oldhand | Feb 19, 2020 12:06pm | #3

    Gum wood? What type of tree you figure? Not likely to be any species commonly called gum I'd think, as they are rarely used for trim due to instability. As for the color most woods darken with age often all the way through. I'd try the bleach idea, maybe research some opaque light "stains" or maybe get used to what you have.

  4. JoeJoyce | Feb 19, 2020 01:35pm | #4

    I've heard it referred to as gumwood, but it is pine from 100 years ago, so the grain is very wide and patterned (quite beautiful actually). I think I've heard it referred to as southern yellow pine as well.

    I have the same type of wood upstairs and downstairs. The upstairs was coated with a clear urethane many years ago and looks great. Some genius did the downstairs wood in dark stain. Will try to post pictures tonight.

    Haven't sanded yet, but may pick a spot and try it. Trouble is there is so much wood to sand and we are living there......thanks for the responses!

  5. florida | Feb 20, 2020 07:38am | #5

    Do a Search for "heart pine" then click on the Image tab to see if your wood matches the pictures.

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