Thread: To Stain or to Bleach?

Hey all, i've started building a table for my HSC, but i've run into some major issues with my timber colors. I decided to use Eastern Mahogany as my Primary timber, and use American Beech in the tabletop. My original goal was to have a very light/dark contrast between the two timbers, However, What i've found is that both timbers have very similar colors. My woodwork teacher insists that i use a very dark mahogany stain, that will contrast with the lighter beech, but i'm feeling resistant to staining over 90% of my project (especially since ive never stained timber before). I was wondering if it would be easier to just Bleach the Beech, so i'm still left with a very light/dark contrast.

Any and all help will be appreciated!

http://i1270.photobucket.com/albums/...Pun/Table1.jpg