staining question

[srottman]

will laurel mountian stains bring out the stripping and figure of curley maple as good as aquafortis

 

[William Joy]

In my opinion -NO! However they are good stains....

 

[longrifle78]

LMF stains are ok but for maple aqua fortis is the best IMHO.

 

[bioprof]

Zonie, one of the moderators of this board, suggested treating the stock with lye (NaOH) before staining with LMF stains. I tried it and it really enhances the curl in maple, much like aquafortis. I did some tests with LMF maple stain, and the untreated wood did not show the curl much at all, but the wood that was treated with lye really showed the figure a lot. I think what happens is that the lye brings the tannins up to the surface in the softer parts of the wood so that they can react with the stain, giving you darker staining areas between the lighter stained areas.

Pretreating the stock with lye will raise the grain, so you will need to whisker the stock again before you stain.

Aquafortis seems to be a little difficult to control for first time users. I have seem many comments that the stock either turned out too dark or not the right color. There are several alternatives that do just about the same thing as AF. Dissolving iron for about two months in cider vinegar gives similar results, as well as using a solution of ferric nitrate, which is what you get when you dissolve iron in nitric acid. Some report that ferric nitrate gives you about the same results as AF without the danger of messing with acid, but the one time I tried it I was kind of disappointed.

I kind of suspect that AF works better on sugar maple than red maple, which is possibly why you hear about some of the varying results.

 

[BadHorse]

will laurel mountian stains bring out the stripping and figure of curley maple as good as aquafortis

NO!

read this post! zonie lays it out there how to do it http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/222530/post/585366/hl//fromsearch/1/ im working on my first "high dollar gun" right now, and this is how im gonna do it!

karwelis

 

[Coltsmoke]

I just done a stock with Af. It was not hard to work with and not hard to do. Take it outside, use gloves, use a heat gun, neutralize it, rinse it off with a waterhose. It was rather simple.

Now, my stock did turn out browner than I wanted. I sanded about half the color out of it, then added some red color by useing alcohol stain. It is now a beautiful red brown and the grain really pops.

Some have said that AF by some companies turn out lighter than others do. I used Wahkon Bay, I would like to know what other choices to use that might produce lighter colors.

I think my next build I will try to get a Sugar Maple stock and test different companies AF in the barrel channel.

 

[Zonie]

IMO bioprof, you came close to what is happening with the lye water.

Actually, it isn't exactly the "softer parts" of the wood, it's the endgrain of the wood.

If you folks would take a close look at this little drawing I made you can see that the grain in curly maple (or any other 'curly' wood) actually does curl. It is shaped into waves.

When the wave is running parallel to the surface of the wood it acts like plain old wood when stains or solutions like aquafortis is applied. Some of it soaks in but not a lot.

When the wave is coming up (or going down) it exposes the ends of the grain very similar to the grain on the end of a piece of board. We all know how unprotected end grain soaks up fluids.

Anyway, at the risk of raising a few hackles here I will say that putting a good built up finish on the wood is as important if not more important than the stains a person uses if they are really interested in showing off the curl of the finished stock.

I've finished a few guns with satin finishes and they just don't show up the translucent "look" that curly woods are capable of developing.
Just a few coats of linseed oil for instance will darken the overall color of the wood and the stripes will be visible but the stripes will not "stand out".

Building up a thicker layer of finish and leaving it a bit more shiny allows the light to penetrate and brings out the stripes better.

Giving the built up finish a polished look really shows off the wood the best.

Think of it as you would a creek.
If there is no water in it the still wet bottom will look like... a wet bottom.

If there is water in the creek but a breeze roughens the surface, the bottom can be seen but it is hard to make out the individual features.

If the creek isn't flowing so the surface is glass smooth, you can see every little feature on the bottom.

Of course this is based on the water being totally clear. If the water is somewhat muddy you will never see the bottom clearly and this is exactly what a person will get if they use a pre-colored oil based stain.

 

[Vaino]

I too prefer Wahkon Bay AF which gives a much darker, richer color than the AF I bought from other sources. After the Wahkon Bay AF is blushed and neutralized, a good rubbing w/ 0000 stl wool smooths the surface and then 2 coats of LMF Lancaster Maple are applied, allowed to dry and followed by another vigorous rubbing w/ 0000 stl wool to remove any surface stain. If the color is too dark, a rag w/ some alcohol is lightly rubbed until the color suits. This yields a nice reddish brown w/ yellow undertones......Fred

 

[Highlander73]

Used Potassium Permanganate on my rifle...made some up with distilled water, a peice of 4/0 steel wool, and about a good heaping dose of Pot Perm. It looks like purple Kool Aid going on but after heat from a heat gun or hair dryer it turns a dull brown. The grain popped out rather nicely,after some steel wool. To go darker my buddy said we'd hafta even the color out with steel wool and then re-apply and re-heat the stock. We finised the process with 8 coats of Tru-Oil, and I occasionally go back an oil the stock with a fine coat of linseed oil...bout once a month for now.
Highlander