Potassium Permangnate

[petlis]

Hello all
Today I was working on a powder horn dying the spout with Potassium Permangate,thier on the work bench was a scrap of maple,so being the curious person I am I tried th PP on the maple and behold it turned a lovely shade of brown.Now my question does any body know if this can be used to stain a stock and what the long term effects would be(like maybe turning a lovely shade of green after a few years)if it can be used do you have to deactivate it or something?Can you use a sealer over it will this effect it.Any help with these questions would be Appreciated.So what say all you gun builders and wood works out there is this a usable product on a stock?Thanks for any and all input...Peter

 

[tom hargrove]

i have stained many gun stocks with it and the long term effect is the same as if you would have used a quility -stain, it is amazing to watch the purple liquid turn brown i dont seem to be able to locate a source for it anymore sure would like to find some what i like best is you controll the color with a little water i much preffer it to oil base-----------

 

[Zonie]

I have heard from a number of sources that it does turn green but having never used it, I can't say that first hand.
Zonie

 

[Mike Brooks]

PP makes a great stain, I especially like it on walnut. I have heard it fades on maple after some time, but it's Chromic acid that is the stuff that turns green , not PP.

 

[Vaino]

Used it on my first build in 1980 and the color turned slightly green, but as the years pass, the green is disappearing and the color is also changing for the better. Have since moved on to other stains { aniline, alcohol and water based stains}and now use AF w/ LMF stains. W/ all the excellent stains on the market I wouldn't even consider potassium permanganate. It's main purpose was for iron filters for well water and possibly can be purchased at a plumbing or water treatment shop....Fred

 

[Ridge]

i dont seem to be able to locate a source for it anymore

Check Lowes or Home Depot. They sell it under a brand name for those garden ponds that everyone seems to have these days.

 

[Joe Yanta]

I've been using PP for years on gun stocks, horn, antler etc. Never seen it turn green. I buy mine at a scientific supply house. I have seen it being sold on ebay.

Joe

 

[tom hargrove]

i used some stuff from dixie gun works called chromenium trioxide and that did turn green ,looked kind of like moss ,o.k. for camo, but kind of bad on a peice of +p maple- :haha:

 

:grin: I have stocks 40 years old that never faded or turned green. PP is the best.

 

[Dave K]

I had one gun done in PP. The maple stock faded badly for me. After a year of always touching it up, I stripped it and used Dangler's stain. All is well now. You mileage will probably vary.

 

[petlis]

Thanks all for your input I think I will try it on a Jackie Brown Dutch fowler I'm finishing up.Do any of you know if it will get darker the more coats you put on? I guess that it can be sealed over.Also does anybody know if the mixture can be stored or will it lose it's potency and what would you store it in glass,plastic?I also assume that the more PP you add to the water the darker the stain.Can it be mixed with other mediums such as oil or alcohol?... Pete
P.S. the stuff I got I bought off of E-Bay

 

[tom hargrove]

it has been my experience that ,yes the more coats you put on will inhance the shades, and if you just let the water evaporate it will leave the little crystals intact and they can be watered down and used again and again untill they are completely dissolved. but the best stain i think you can use is mfg. by laurel mountain it can be had in almost any shade for maple or reddish tint for walnut ot just american walnut it is of excellent quility.

 

[wszumera]

I did a quick google search for the stuff:[url] http://www.chemistrystore.com/potassium_permanganate.htm[/url]

Clutch

 

[Zonie]

I too did a google search and found the following information about it.

It is an extreme oxidizer which simply put means it can cause other things to spontaneously ignite at room temperature.
In liquid form it is the "Z-Stolff" used by the Germans in the WW II ME 163's rocket engine.

It can also be used to create class I drugs which is of course a Federal offense. Quoting Wikipedia: "Consequently the DEA has restricted its use and sale by classifying it as a List I controlled precursor."

Not that our friendly DEA folks would kick down your front door for having it without at least first surrounding your house and yelling "DEA" first, but I think I'll just stick to the good old alcohol/water based stains. :hmm:

Zonie

 

[CrackStock]

I saw a rifle in a shop in (Cohan's) New Orleans a few years ago with an awful green color. I commented that this was another chromium trioxide gone sour and the man looked at me a claimed that teh color was desirable. I looked the gun over and it seemed to be an older gun and I was wondering how far back this stain was used? Did people actually intend to stain a gun that awful color?

CS

 

[dlemaster]

CrackStock
Back around 1990 I made a rifle for a friend who asked that I leave it in the white so that he could stain the stock and brown the barrel and lock himself. I made up a copy of a J. P. Beck with a sliding wood patchbox. I was pretty well satisfied with the way it turned out. A few weeks later he called and wanted to show me the now completed rifle. I was shocked to see he had stained the wood with what he called a "green apple colored stain." I tried not to show the shock but the thought kept going through my mind of how much better that really nice piece of curly maple would have looked with an aqua fortis stain. He said he wanted something that looked different from all the other longrifles he had seen. He was tickeled with it.
To each his own.

Regards, Dave

 

[Et2ss]

You can buy it a landscaping/pond suppliers.
Usually mix one heaping spoon to about a quart of hot water. Results on Maple with 1 spoon to about 1 pint below

 

[Tinker2]

Potassium Permanganate is the most useful stain I have ever
used. It is or can be dangerous to use so be careful with it.

It is poisonous\toxic.
Don’t lick your fingers. Kills athlete’s foot great if you don’t
mind brown feet.


It is my number one stain.

Tinker2

 

[DrTimboone]

I buy it from the Science Store online. I use it for antigueing antlers and did one horn with it. I have been experimenting on cherry as I build my cherry fowler and I don't care for the color on cherry as well as I do the color from a lye wash. It is more opaque than the lye for some reason and therefore doesn't show the grain as well.

 

[Bountyhunter]

In college we used to kipe it outta the chem lab, and take it to parties. Just a few grains of it dissolved in a coke would cause the drinker to whiz brilliant red in a little bit..............