Iron Nitrate assistance - Woodsrunner Kit

[koauke]

Hello all, I'm working on my first Woodsrunner kit and kit build in general. I'm at the iron nitrate stage, but after heating with the heat gun I did not get that brilliant rust orange color that Jim got in his video. I got hints of that rust orange color, but mostly it’s a sandy grey brown color.

I couldn’t get it to change any more than that no matter how long I applied heat to any area of the wood. Having never done this before I'm just not sure what to expect. Its definitely not the green color it was prior to heating. I'm attaching some photos the last three are under a different light source (I'll have to check in the sunlight tomorrow). The butt of the stock and the patch box lid produced the most "color" but even within that you can see that sandy grey brown. There is very little of that rust color forward of the butt area of the stock.

Potentially a dumb questions:
Is this the correct result? If not is there a way to rectify it?
Do some stocks just not produce that rust orange color?
I wiped off the excess and let it dry an hour before heating. Maybe I didn't let it dry long enough?
Maybe I used the wrong type of scotch brite pad to apply the iron nitrate? I used the maroon general purpose 7447 hand pad.

 

[tunadawg]

Looks fine to me. Each piece of wood will be different. Wipe it with a wet rag (water or alcohol) and you'll see what it will look like when the finish is applied. If you want something different, then you have to experiment with stains or dyes.

 

[BillyC]

I concur, a little alcohol will show you how it will pop when finished. A second coat and blushing with heat can only make it better.

 

[Bnewberry]

That looks like the first coat I did on mine. I did another two applications and heat cycles and my Woodsrunner came out a bit too dark. Try the alcohol tip and if you want darker do another application.

 

[tjiann]

That is going to be one beautiful rifle!

 

[Frontstuffer070]

Looking good. May as well keep on posting them pics tho!

 

[CuNosecap]

That looks about right. I would suggest not repeating that step unless you want a really dark brown. Yours will turn out right. Good luck.

 

[Eric Krewson]

Normal before and after; before blushing on the left, puky green.

 

[Kevin Houlihan]

Hello all, I'm working on my first Woodsrunner kit and kit build in general. I'm at the iron nitrate stage, but after heating with the heat gun I did not get that brilliant rust orange color that Jim got in his video. I got hints of that rust orange color, but mostly it’s a sandy grey brown color.

I couldn’t get it to change any more than that no matter how long I applied heat to any area of the wood. Having never done this before I'm just not sure what to expect. Its definitely not the green color it was prior to heating. I'm attaching some photos the last three are under a different light source (I'll have to check in the sunlight tomorrow). The butt of the stock and the patch box lid produced the most "color" but even within that you can see that sandy grey brown. There is very little of that rust color forward of the butt area of the stock.

Potentially a dumb questions:
Is this the correct result? If not is there a way to rectify it?
Do some stocks just not produce that rust orange color?
I wiped off the excess and let it dry an hour before heating. Maybe I didn't let it dry long enough?
Maybe I used the wrong type of scotch brite pad to apply the iron nitrate? I used the maroon general purpose 7447 hand pad.

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That's exactly how it's supposed to look. Give it another coat of the nitric acid, blush with heat and apply finnish. It's going to look great!!
Kevin

 

[koauke]

Thank you all for the input!
I didn't have a chance to work on it tonight, but in the morning I'll take it out in the daylight and put a bit of alcohol on a section to see where it is. If it looks nice as is I may leave it at the one coat. I don't want to go too dark, a nice brown would be fine. I'll post more pics as I get it finished up.

 

[Flintandsteel]

Don’t need alcohol. Just use water.

 

[deerstalkert]

looks right to me. now burnish the stock with a hardwood dowel. make it shine. if you are applying another stain do it , let it dry and burnish again. that will close the pores and seal it.

 

[koauke]

A cloudy day here this morning, but the sun poked out enough so put a bit of water on the stock. Think I'll stick with the one coat of Iron Nitrate.

 

[Hurricane]

Looking good! What will you use for the final coat?

 

[Gtrubicon]

That is going to be beautiful

 

[koauke]

Looking good! What will you use for the final coat?

Going to use the Laurel Mountain Forge Permalyn Sealer. Pretty much have just followed Jim's videos and its gotten me this far, so I figure I'll finish it using the same.

A few more tasks on the checklist to go and it'll be ready for the range. Need to take care of the butt plate, the lock, and do a final sanding on the ramrod before finishing it. I will use Jax black for lock and barrel. I also have to fill a small gap alongside the ramrod entry pipe, sanded just a hair too much. Have debated doing that before or after the first coat of finish. Think I will do it after as I'm going to use the recommended CA glue to take care of that and I think that will pretty much make that entry pipe permanent, which is fine. Figure I won't need to take it out again and can do any minor clean up if needed before the follow up finish coats. If that's a terrible idea let me know, but I think I can make it work.

 

[Hurricane]

"... let me know,..." - Hell, I'm a rookie at this stuff, just asking to learn. Looks like you're doing awesome work!