When refinishing old furniture, I regularly encounter new issues that I have never seen or heard of before. Yeah, it can be frustrating, annoying, and overall disappointing. Your initial plans may need tweaking or complete changes. What I have encountered now on 2 different projects is discoloration in the wood underneath the old hardware, in my case, under old drawer pulls.
Discoloration under old drawer pulls and other hardware happens because wood naturally changes its color over long periods of time. Wood exposed to the air vs wood under the hardware will oxidize differently resulting in this discolored wood when you remove the hardware.
Wood can change color for a number of reasons and under your hardware can be discolored for different reasons too, but it is most likely the reaction the wood has with oxygen over the many years of its existence.
I always thought there was no fix for this issue, but there is! And there are also a few other ways to get around it too.
Why Wood is Discolored Under Hardware?
Oxidation
The main reason the wood is discolored is that wood reacts differently under hardware to oxygen than the wood directly exposed to it. Over long periods of time, there is a slow chemical reaction, known as oxidation, this reaction changes the natural appearance of the wood.
When this happens, the wood is lighter where the hardware was and darker where it was not. This is why people get confused. Wood darkens naturally from oxygen, but the average person doesn’t know this, and hey, I had no clue either. What the average person does know is that wood can fade from the sun, but typically, the sun causes the wood to become lighter, making a lighter wood tone eliminate sun damage as the cause.
Sun Damages
It’s not to say sun damage isn’t the cause of your discolored wood beneath the hardware, but it is less likely. If your wooden piece was exposed directly to the sun then consider this a possibility, but if you know it was in a bedroom corner without sun for many years you can rule it out now.
It’s common to have furniture near a window getting sunlight every day, and you won’t notice the changes overnight. It’s still a slower process, but it happens at a faster speed than oxidation to wood. Within a few weeks, you can see severe sun damage to wood.
Sun damage on wood causes severe color changes, if the wood is stained it will fade it a lighter color. You often see this on hardwood floors, people lay a rug on the floor and then move it to see a huge change in the floor color. Anyways, this can happen to furniture hardware in a similar scientific way. Pretend the hardware is the floor rug, once you remove it from the furniture you see a color difference. Where the hardware was, it is much darker, this is because the sun UV rays could not reach the area meaning there were no damages.
Staining During Creation
Another potential reason behind the discoloration of your wood is when the piece was manufactured. It might have gone through a process where the hardware was already installed before it was painted or stained, causing the wood to be a different color under the drawer pulls.
I haven’t encountered this reason personally, but I have heard it from other people. Maybe it was originally manufactured this way, or it was refinished with the hardware on it; either way, it could have caused this discoloration under the hardware.
How to Fix Discolored Wood Under Drawer Pulls/Knobs
I have encountered this issue a couple of times now, and I originally wanted to buy new drawer pulls to update the piece. But I couldn’t anymore; I couldn’t fix the discoloring in the wood. I sanded it down a lot, but this did not work. So I did some research and found a few solutions, here they are:
1. Wood Bleach or Oxalic Acid
Bleaching the wood using a wood bleach or oxalic acid is a simple way to remove the discoloration in the wood. Simply apply the bleach solution, let it sit for the appropriate amount of time, and then clean it with water afterwards.
I like to use oxalic acid. The process is simple:
- Remove the old finish
- Wipe away dirt/dust
- Mix warm water and oxalic acid powder (1 tablespoon oxalic acid per 150 ml water)
- Wearing gloves, apply oxalic acid water formula over entire wood surface (Not just the discolored section)
- If needed, apply more coats of oxalic acid water mix.
- Once dry and stain/discolor-free, clean with water to remove all oxalic acid.
- Allow to dry, and you are ready to move on with your project.
If you are interested in wood bleach, watch Kristen from something.renewed use Zinsser 2 part wood bleach to remove the discoloration:
View this post on Instagram
2. Use the Same or Larger Hardware
I decided the best fix was to either use the same old hardware to cover up the discolored area or find new hardware that would cover it too. On a coffee table project, I re-used the old hardware by repainting it and antiquing it with dark wax. But on an old nightstand, I found a large set of drawer pulls and covered the discolored area as best I could.
Take a look at the before and after photos below.
Covering Coffee Table Drawer Pull Discoloring With Same Hardware
Covering Drawer Pull Discoloring With Larger Hardware
3. Paint Instead of Stain
Instead of staining, you can easily paint over the discoloration and you won’t have to worry about it. You can then use whatever drawer pulls and hardware that you want. This is a simple solution having discolored wood under your hardware.
4. Touch Up Area to Match (time-consuming)
If you want to try something touching up the area using wax, markers, touch up kits, paint, pigmented shellac, and many other potential options. However, this is a project for the pros, and figuring out how to mix products together to match the stain throughout will not be easy, but it is possible.
I didn’t want to spend hours on this attempting to fix the issue, my flipping ROI would never make sense. But if its a personal project give it a try and see what happens. You might need to sand and restart a few times though.
