I carried out a little experiment about 2 years ago. Starting with a single piece of oak burr, I cut it into four pieces. Three became orbs which were scorched black and lime-waxed, the fourth piece was bleached to form a base...the idea being to show the level of contrast possible in the finishes of identical pieces of timber.
For bleaching, I simply bought a large bottle of household bleach (Parazone, if I recall), soaked the base overnight in a tray, such that it was immersed with a brick on it to hold it down. The next day I removed it, dried it out for a couple of days, sanded it off then repeated the process.....here's the result.
Les