Aqua Fortis Recipe

[rootnuke]

I think I have made a discovery. Probably 1000 years too late as the middle ages probably already knows of this, but here goes..

I wondered why on curly maple I would get a descent red petina then other times not. This occured on samples of wood from the same tree, from the same AF batch mixture. hmmm

I could not figure out why the red one time and not the next.

Then! I got to thinking. :hmm: Each time I got a modest amount of red was when I made a fresh batch of lye and while the cup of lye was still warm from the chemical reaction between the lye and water, then I would apply it while warm.

So I decided to take a coffee cup full of distilled water and placed it in the microwave for 2 minutes. I then ran it to the shop and added 1 tsp of Red Devil lye. I stirred it a few times and applied it to the maple.

What I had hoped would occur did. The RED came out big time and dominated the golden or yellow.

Based on this I have concluded that each strand of wood contains tannin. Applying warm/hot lye solution opens the strand of maple which contains the tannin like a hot towel opens the pores of skin when applied to the face.

Thus, if you apply a lye solution warm you will get a richer red petina or tannin burst to the maple than a more modest gold or yellow tone at a cool or room temp.

your thoughts... :hmm:

 

LOL Yeah, rootnuke, I was referring to the ferric nitrate powder.

Oh, and yeah, I was actually asking because I'm gonna need it with the next kit, not the current pistol. I'm not sure what AF would do to a walnut stock, and I'm not willing to find out with this kit, either. :redthumb: However, when this one's done, I plan on starting on a rifle of some sort that will have a curly maple stock, and after seeing all of your "Adventures in Staining", I've pretty much decided that it MUST be stained with AF. :RO:

I'll Google ferric nitrate powder and see what I come up with. If I find a good cheap supplier, I'll share. :winking:

 

Ferric Nitrate for sale

What's the difference between ACS grade, and Reagent Grade?

These guys are up in Burlington... heck, I could drive up there and get it. They're only an hour from here.

Edit: I also just noticed they have nitric acid too. Rootnuke, was there a specific percentage or grade of nitric acid you bought?

 

[rootnuke]

Ferric Nitrate for sale

What's the difference between ACS grade, and Reagent Grade?

These guys are up in Burlington... heck, I could drive up there and get it. They're only an hour from here.

Edit: I also just noticed they have nitric acid too. Rootnuke, was there a specific percentage or grade of nitric acid you bought?

Nitric Acid Reagent 63% (I think)

If this is not correct I will post proper label description tonight when I get home.

 

[elmonk]

rootnuke,

I looked at this in the lab some years back.

When I stored certain batches of ferric nitrate solution they would form a yellow "crud" in the bottom of the bottles. Which I would discard knowing full well my cheap "Dutch" ancestors threw nothing away. Turned out that the yellow sludge could be used to stain curly maple stocks giving a mixture of yellow, orange and brown on the stock.

I had noticed that if I used baking soda on a stock to convert the water-soluble ferric nitrate to ferric oxide I got one pattern of colors. If I used the next stronger caustic, potash (potassium carbonate) I got another mixture of colors.
So I reasoned that the pH during the conversion process had something to do with the colors produced.
Then I made up a caustic potash (potassium hydroxide) solution and mixed it with some ferric nitrate. This gave a very bright red iron oxide, no molecules of water of hydration attached to the iron oxide particles. In a mass, the ferric oxide produced from mixing the caustic potash solution with the ferric nitrate looked almost black in color. Only in thin films was it bright red. I had seen this effect on two original longrifles in Chuck Dixon's collection, both by the same old PA gunsmith.


Just before Christmas I made up close to a gallon of ferric nitrate for a well known powder horn maker who lives a few city blocks away from me.

Try the ferric nitrate on horn. Dilute it and try it on some white wool.