Aqua Fortis and Lye on Walnut, An Experiment

[The Crisco Kid]

This is a plain piece of walnut that is destined to be a fore end on one of my single shot rifles. Just to see what would happen I stained the right side of the piece with aqua fortis and blushed it with a heat gun. The I added a dilute solution of household lye to the left side. I have no idea what the solution concentration was, maybe 1/2 tsp in a quarter cup of water. I overran the lye onto the aqua fortis, which is the darker red in the center. The whole thing was flooded with a thinned linseed oil solution yesterday. I ran a plane over some of the piece to show the original color. Like most things we do it has probably been done before but it's new to me and shows a lot of promise.

 

[Bnewberry]

I like the left side. That was lye correct? I will have to give this a try!

 

[The Crisco Kid]

The lye is on the left. Let us know how it works for you.

 

[Capt. Jas.]

When you say aqua fortis are you referring to nitric acid and water or nitric, water and iron or one of the store bought mixes that goes by that moniker? If a bottled mix, did you cut it any?

 

[64Springer]

Throughout history, is lye a tried and true method for coloring wood?

Any ill effects or degradation from using lye on wood?

I used homemade aqua fortis on a 3/8ths red oak dowel. The untreated portion of the rod bent nicely. The treated portion snaped like glass with no flexing. I was surprised. Made me wonder how brittle stocks are after using aqua fortis as a grain enhancer.

 

[HighUintas]

I think lye may be commonly used on cherry. I'm not sure if that is a historical method for cherry staining though

 

[The Crisco Kid]

The aqua fortis is from Wahkon Bay and I used it straight from the bottle.
I've been told by an aquaintance who is a student of antique arms and premier restorer that lye has been used "forever" as a stain for cherry. Since lye is a base it will also neutralize the acid based aqua fortis.

 

[TDM]

I have some iron nitrate ordered. But using lye is very interesting to me. Might have to experiment with that.

 

[HighUintas]

I did a little bit of reading on ammonia fuming. It's essentially the same as using lye. The alkaline substance reacts with the tannins in the wood and darkens it.

Ammonia fuming is commonly used on cherry, oak, etc. Higher tannin woods.

It is a method of artificially aging cherry. Apparently if you have a piece of cherry, finish it with oil or whatever, over time it will darken like it does with lye or ammonia fuming.

Apparently Easy Off oven cleaner works well too.

If you have a barn with much animals in it, leave your cherry gun out there for awhile for the ammonia fumes to penetrate and darken the stock. Or maybe hang it over your cat box for awhile.

 

[garypl]

Bought and received a bottle of ferric nitrate crystals today. Made a solution of @1 cup distilled water and 1 teaspoon of crystals. Painted the solution onto several test pieces of cherry and will blush them with a heat gun tomorrow to see what happens. Pics to follow.

 

[TDM]

I did a little bit of reading on ammonia fuming. It's essentially the same as using lye. The alkaline substance reacts with the tannins in the wood and darkens it.

Ammonia fuming is commonly used on cherry, oak, etc. Higher tannin woods.

It is a method of artificially aging cherry. Apparently if you have a piece of cherry, finish it with oil or whatever, over time it will darken like it does with lye or ammonia fuming.

Apparently Easy Off oven cleaner works well too.

If you have a barn with much animals in it, leave your cherry gun out there for awhile for the ammonia fumes to penetrate and darken the stock. Or maybe hang it over your cat box for awhile.

I had no idea of any of this. Interesting.

 

[Trapper Scott]

Here is a picture of an experiment I did with lye on cherry. The top is lye only, the middle is Permalyn, and the bottom is lye that was blushed with heat and them a tad of bees wax added. The bees wax didn't really add much to the blushed lye.

 

[PathfinderNC]

Here is a picture of an experiment I did with lye on cherry. The top is lye only, the middle is Permalyn, and the bottom is lye that was blushed with heat and them a tad of bees wax added. The bees wax didn't really add much to the blushed lye.View attachment 175388

Hey Trapper Scott, I think I will be trying that out!

 

[Trapper Scott]

Hey Trapper Scott, I think I will be trying that out!

Sounds great. I will be staining my Kibler SMR stock with it also as soon as I get done with the stock. I have everything done with the stock except molding cuts along both sides from the trigger guard to the butt plate if I don't change my mind. I engraved my patch box lid today but it still needs to be cleaned up.

 

[Centurion]

Has anyone ever tried these methods on the common older Italian or Spanish made weapons? I’ve refinished a few of these and there isn’t a lot of grain there. Have i been missing something?

don

 

[Trapper Scott]

Has anyone ever tried these methods on the common older Italian or Spanish made weapons? I’ve refinished a few of these and there isn’t a lot of grain there. Have i been missing something?

don

I haven't tried lye on anything other than cherry yet, but there was a member who posted using Potassium Permangent with good results on the beech stocks. Apparently, it was used extensively in parts of Europe as a military arms finish.

 

[64Springer]

Has anyone ever tried these methods on the common older Italian or Spanish made weapons? I’ve refinished a few of these and there isn’t a lot of grain there. Have i been missing something?

don

I have some lye that I use for soap making. I'll mix up a bit tomorrow and apply it to an old Jukar fore stock I have laying around.

I'll post the results with water/lye mix and pictures.

 

[TDM]

Here is a picture of an experiment I did with lye on cherry. The top is lye only, the middle is Permalyn, and the bottom is lye that was blushed with heat and them a tad of bees wax added. The bees wax didn't really add much to the blushed lye.View attachment 175388

The lye looks really nice, I like it.

 

[Trapper Scott]

The lye looks really nice, I like it.

I think so too. I've played around with it a bit on my good days and so far it holds the most promise. The Permalyn is nice also, but it is much lighter. It just depends on what shade someone is looking to get.

 

[TDM]

I think so too. I've played around with it a bit on my good days and so far it holds the most promise. The Permalyn is nice also, but it is much lighter. It just depends on what shade someone is looking to get.

Yes, they’re both nice for sure.