Oxalic acid on cherry

[Windows]

Does oxalic acid remove cherry’s natural colour or will it only affect the dark water stains?

And what colour is likely to be left when oxalic acid lightens a water stain in cherry? Will it be pale or is it likely to reveal colour similar to the wood around the stain?

 

[AJB Temple]

Oxalic Acid: A Very Useful Bleach | Popular Woodworking

One of the most useful products in wood finishing that doesn’t get a lot of attention is oxalic acid, often labeled wood bleach. It’s useful for removing black water stains without changing the color…

www.popularwoodworking.com

 

[fuse]

Its also used to treat varroa mites on bees.
Becoming difficult to get in pure form by honest means in the UK now.

 

[Windows]

I guess I should have taken pictures but I didn’t. Too late now. In my case, oxalic acid (Liberon Wood Bleacher) removed some water stains with only slight lightening of the cherry colour so that it remained close in colour to the untreated wood. Repeated application did in fact remove some of the wood’s natural colour leaving the wood noticeably pale compared to the untreated wood and paler than you might expect cherry to be (although some colour remained).

So I would say that oxalic acid can remove or reduce natural cherry colour with repeated applications, but a single application of Liberon Wood Bleacher is likely to leave the majority of the cherry colour and the colour behind a water stain will start out close to the colour of the surrounding wood.