Amount of Aqua Fortis

[Ohioan]

How much diluted Nitric Acid would I need to experiment and stain a Chambers York kit with wood patchbox and a knife handle or two?

I'm thinking 10% then diluting it and adding steel wool.

Steps to make aqua fortis:
1. Dilute 1 cup Nitric Acid added to 6 Cups water
2. Add steel wool
3. wait till steel wool is gone.


Steps to stain
1. whisker
2. apply stain
3. Heat
4. neutralize with lye for a lighter color, baking soda for darker
5. wash stock off
6. repeat if so desired


am I correct? Most important, I need to know how many oz or ml's I'll need to aquire to make enough aqua fortis.

 

[Black Hand]

Not to be difficult, but why not order some? TOW has 2oz bottles for $7.95 in stock. This way there is no guessing as to proper proportions....

 

[Shelby Skinner]

I think you'll need a slightly stronger acid mix. I use three to one (3 parts water to one part acid). I've seen some recipes call for 2 to 1. ALWAYS ADD ACID TO WATER. A to W...
I personally don't like steel wool as its a little too reactive, plus its got oil on it. I prefer to use old horse shoe nails. If you have any old barbed wire fence rows in your area its a good source for old steel. Doesn't take but a pair of wire cutters and a small amount of time.

Add the nails a few at a time until the reaction stops this might take an hour or more...then LIGHTLY cap the solution for a week or so. Leave it outside if you can out of the reach of animals and children. Do NOT cap tightly as it will continue to outgas for a while. After a week or so you should be OK though.

If you choose to use steel wool be sure to use an ample container with no more than half the volume used by the acid solution. Its gonna fizz up and will need the room.

Swab on the solution and let it dry before you heat it. Just set it outside in the sun. I like to use a cotton swab and really slop it on the stock. Once you stain the stock and heat it, check the color with some water or mineral spirits. If its dark enough for you go ahead and neutralize, If not don't bother to neutralize, just go ahead and stain again.

That's how I do it!

 

[Ohioan]

I can get the nitric acid for free.. I just need to know how much. free is always good...

so, like a 70% solution then dilute 6:1 or 3:1?

Should I get like a cup or 1/2 cup of nitric acid?

 

[rabjr]

1. Dilute 1 cup Nitric Acid added to 6 Cups water

I have some of Eric Kettenburgs brew from a few years ago and it is 6 to 1, water/acid if that helps.

 

[Ohioan]

hmm.. i'm just not sure how much it will take to stain the stock. Hopefully someone who makes their own will chime in and tell me about how big of a batch to stain a couple rifle stocks. (42in barrels)

 

[gacitizen]

TOW states their 2 oz bottle will stain two or three longrifles. It doesn't take alot.

 

[longcruise]

Better to keep your mixture on the mild side and use more than one application if need be. Each piece of wood reacts differently.

I have made the AQ with the steel wool method and ended up with pure red mudd. Using nails etc wasn't much better. In the end I quit messing around with nitric acid altogether and got some feric nitrate crystals from a hobbyists science supplier type store. It's simple to mix the amount you want and the dilution you want.

 

[hcook]

Jut a few ozs will do several rifles.

 

[Old40Rod]

Marmot... don't mean to co-opt the thread (maybe start a new thread), but I would appreciate it if you could go through your process for using the ferric nitrate crystals. Is it the same as using AF except the solution? Do you have to still do any wash or neutralizing?

Thanks

 

[bioprof]

My experience has been that AF is powerful stuff. Thus far, the stocks that I have used it on have turned out somewhat darker than I have wanted. It appears that the softer the wood, the darker it will be. End grain also tends to turn darker. After making it with 2:1 parts water to acid, I have diluted it 6:1 to 10:1 before using it. Go easy on it. You can always stain it darker, but it is harder to make it lighter.

 

[Ohioan]

I'm getting 3 ounces of nitric acid today.
I'm going to mix it into 18 ounces of water.
Then I'm going to drop a couple pieces of steel wool in it.
Then wait...

 

[rich pierce]

I would thoroughly wash the steel wool first as it often has oils to prevent rust- use dish soap, rinse well, then use it. Steel wool is very rapidly eaten by nitric acid and will fume very briskly and emit noxious gas, so please use an unbreakable container that is vented and can tolerate heat. I generally use small nails or old wire because the reaction goes more slowly with less surface area.

 

[Stophel]

Do yourself (and your eyes and your lungs) a big favor, and don't use steel wool. It will produce a massive amount of HIGHLY toxic red fumes.

I've been using a mason jar with about two parts acid, one part water. Add small (preferably old) nails or bits of iron/mild steel just a little bit at a time, and let it dissolve away. When those pieces are gone, add a few more. Keep going till it won't dissolve any more. Put the lid on loosely and let it sit for several more days (at least) before using. By the way, do all this outside away from anything.

Your mixture can be diluted later. I've been using probably a 6 to 1 water to acid ratio (more or less). It really ain't that critical. Diluting the acid basically just "stretches" it out. If it is diluted too much, it just doesn't work properly, and you then have to put on that much more.

 

[longcruise]

It's called Feric Nitrate ACS. I'm no chemist, but my understanding is that it is the same as AQ but in crystallized form. It's kinda lumpy sandy crystals that you mix with water. It has a light red color to it. You apply it and heat it just like regular AQ. It is corrosive and needs to be neutralized the same as AQ.

I got mine from:

The Science Company
95 Lincoln St.
Denver CO 80203
800-372-6726

Bought it in 2004 for $9.95 for 125 Grams of the stuff.

Have used it on two projects and the results were very nice. The same as AQ to my eye. It takes very little crystal to get results. I've started out with 3 or 4 oz of water and gradually add a little crystal at a time trying on test strips as the mixture is increased. Just guessing, but this bottle would probably do 20 or 25 guns.

Others may be able to comment further on the chemistry of the whole thing.

Also, the label says: Fe(NO3)3.9H20 Whatever that means . There's also a thing on it called a Merck Index of 12,4071??

 

[Old40Rod]

Marmotkiller... Thanks for the info!

Unless I miss my guess the Merck Index number is where in the Merck Index (a listing of various chemical compounds) you will find the monograph describing the compound.

The Fe(NO3)3.9H2O is the chemical formula for ferric nitrate (crystalline form):

Iron (Fe) + 3 Nitrate molecules (NO3) + 9 water molecules (H20).

 

[longcruise]

Hey, thanks for your help

I still have a part of a bottle of nitric acid around here but the ferric nitrate works so well it's now my go-to.

I am no expert on these things. And am less than a novice gun builder so I'd suggest anybody reading my thoughts on this getting more info from other sources! :shocked2:

 

[longcruise]

Here is a pic of a rifle that I used 1 part nitric acid and three parts water on. A local builder suggested this to me. There is no dissolved metal in the mix. It's just swabbed on allowed to dry and then hit with a heat gun. Major neutralizing done after the heat treat. This is way darker than I wanted but had no test strips of this piece of wood. If doing it over it would have been 1 part acid to 6 or 9 parts water. Still, I kinda like the end result.

 

[Old40Rod]

If you have used ferric nitrate crystals even once, you have infinitely more experience at it than I do