We removed the orange tone from our exposed beams and now they look amazing!. See how we did it using pickling stain and no sanding!

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Operation Remove Orange Tones From Wood Beams: Completed!

This subtle difference in the beautiful beams Trevor installed last year in our entryway is amazing. Now they have the most beautiful white oak stain on them.

Trevor laughs at me ” I wanted to do a project that I couldn’t help with being pregnant” Pregnant working on scaffolding is not the best idea. But Trevor did an amazing job as always!!

We found a stain that didn’t go gray, or too white with our wood. It is actually a pickling stain and required no sanding!

We did NOT sand down our wood before applying the pickling. That was the goal, to find a stain or treatment we didn’t have to sand. Our ceiling didn’t seem to have any type of wood sealer on it. If your wood has been sealed, this treatment might not have the same result for you.

The nice thing about this pickling is you can easily manipulate it. You can see above we tried brushing on two coats of the pickling then wiping it off, then 1 coat and wiping it off. We found the best results was to brush on the pickling then allow it to soak in for 15-30 minutes, then wipe it off with a wet rag. Some areas were still too orange, so we then did a second coat after we had wiped it. I recommend to sample stains.

We used a paint brush a brushed the pickling on the ceiling. Let it soak in for 30 minutes. Then we took a wet rag over the wood and wiped the pickling off. On the right you can see where we wiped it. After wiping the pickling off, it took about an hour or so to see it lighten.

The next morning the beams were stunning. It takes time to see the full color change. The pickling looks lighter depending on the time of day and where we applied it. The wood on our ceiling is so different from piece to piece and I love the variation.

Have you ever tried pickling stain? What did you think of it? I highly recommend it if don’t want to sand your wood.

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• Pickling Stain

• Chandelier

• Scaffolding

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