Can ironwood be bleeched?

[P.K.Hansen]

I just recieved a nice block of ironwood burl. It's very dark, so I thought that maybe it can be bleeched/ made lighter in color somehow. Any ideas?

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

When you shape and sand it, it will probably lighten. With age it darkens a bit. Friction in sawing, grinding, and buffing can darken it to almost black, so use sharp bladeds and slow feed rate, fresh belts and slow speed on the grinder, hand sand to finish, buff lightly.