IRON NITRATE- ARE THEY ALL CREATED EQUAL..

[James Kopp]

As there are multiple different iron nitrate brands on the market.. are they are the same, are some better than others...What are the PROs and CONS of each.....

Trying to educate myself as I am about ready to stain a curly maple stock in the next few weeks.

Any information will be much appreciated.

 

[user 34300]

For maple staining any iron nitrate crystal you buy will work the same. Scientific supply houses have different grades of chemicals. That has to do with purity and traceability. If it is 99.9% pure or 99.999% will change the price but not the color you get.

 

[IanH]

I make a ferric nitrate solution using crystals from a chemical supply company. I dissolve the crystals in either distilled water or isopropyl alcohol to make the concentration I want for the color and particular wood type. Alcohol evaporates before it penetrates very deeply but doesn't raise grain. I typically use water as a solvent and whisker the stock several times before applying the stain.

 

[James Kibler]

No, not all equal.

 

[rich pierce]

Any liquid iron-saturated nitric acid solutions will vary from all others not made precisely the same way with the same ingredients. I believe at least one that used to be sold also had some hydrochloride acid snd could be used as a stain or to brown steel.

There’s no logical reason that comes to mind why any of the ferric nitrate crystals being sold would functionally differ from each other.

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
Whoa. Are we talking about iron nitrate crystals or iron nitrate solutions?

dave

 

[64Springer]

Any liquid iron-saturated nitric acid solutions will vary from all others not made precisely the same way with the same ingredients. I believe at least one that used to be sold also had some hydrochloride acid snd could be used as a stain or to brown steel.

There’s no logical reason that comes to mind why any of the ferric nitrate crystals being sold would functionally differ from each other.

I made some of that hydrochloric acid/hydrogen peroxide/steel wool stuff.

Best cold rusting process I've seen.

Nice even dark chocolate rust.

Only takes a day and it doesn't need a sweat box or high humidity.

PS: Turns Birch wood a really dark maroon color.

 

[raylohr1965]

Kiblers seemed to be just fine , I have tried others and it did not seem as strong . I used some homemade and it also did not seem as good . Just my opinion

 

[IanH]

Hi,
Whoa. Are we talking about iron nitrate crystals or iron nitrate solutions?

dave

I was talking about making aqueous or hydroxyl solutions made with ferric nitrate crystals. Buying the crystals and making your own solution to the concentration you want/need is both cheaper and more versatile than just using what ya got out of someone's bottle. The reason I started doing this was I wanted to duplicate a "shade" of iron nitrate stain that I saw on an excellent longrifle made by Mark Elliot, if I recall correctly it was his #15. I was only able to do this and also achieve a decent depth of saturation by mixing a weaker solution than would normally be used and saturating the stock very well for many coats. While commercial solutions can be diluted, they cannot be made stronger, and stronger is what I needed and used on two other stocks. One solution needed to be super-saturated and applied warm to a warmed stock.

 

[user 34300]

When I piled on concentrated solution made from crystals I get rusty powder on the surface. The color only went so dark. The rusty powder is irritating to my nose.

To force color variations I use dye stains as sold by Chambers on top of the Ferric Nitrate. Dilute them at first.

Trying to duplicate someone else's result may not be possible with your piece of wood.

I have no opinion on prepared solutions since I never bought one. I thought the OP was asking about buying crystals and making his own.