Simple Aqua Fortis Finish Question

My last rifle build was my first time using Nitric or Aqua Fortis. I really liked using it and how it turned out. However, indoors it just looks kind of plain chocolate brown. Outside I get more of the contrast between grains or curl and soft wood and the translucent look.

I am planning my next build. I have wondered if I would have gotten more noticeable contrast in color between curl and regular wood had I rubbed it out more before sealing it with Tru Oil. It seems like in a couple places where I think I rubbed it more with steel wool or a scotch pad (I don't recall what I used, and I may have used either pad with oil it) . . . I got more of the light and dark contrast that people see as the curl "popping" look of two different light and darker browns in those small more rubbed out places. Hope this makes sense. Am I correct that maybe rubbing the AF after heat and before oil more aggressively would give more color contrast ??

Yes, you are correct.

Thank you !! Much appreciated

Two things will add to the contrast.
Tannic acid bath before ferric nitrate (AF)
Additional scrubbing before finish.

I actually use a skotchbrite pad to apply my finish. This allows a preview of what the final finish will look like, and you can decide to remove more or less in specific areas.

Yowza ! that's an amazing stock. Thanks for your answer, I wish I had rubbed out my rifle more with the scotchbrite pad as I think it would have looked a lot better . . . honestly, it was a Chamber's fowler and I wasn't sure how curly it was . . I saw some and had hopes . . the Nitric revealed more than I thought I had, but it can only be seen in the sunlight because I left it too brownish. I do like it, but I've wondered if it could be scrubbed again and re-oiled. . though it's over a year old.

What I see in your photos looks like "slab" sawn wood. Flintandsteel's stock looks like "quarter" sawn stump wood. It's almost unfair to compare the two because of the usual price difference.

You can always scrub it again and re-oil it. I would use something like Formby's Furniture Refinisher on the scotchbrite pad to take off the old finish while scrubbing off some of the stain. You could also just dry sand it.

Whatever you do, you will not likely see much curl on the sides of the stock--just on the bottom and top.

Thank you . . . you are correct, I doubt that was quarter sawn. I was a Jim Chamber's kit, (preserve). I don't think pre-carves are quarter sawn very often. . . that's a higher priced piece of wood. Thanks for the refinish suggestion. That's helpful.

plmeek said:

What I see in your photos looks like "slab" sawn wood. Flintandsteel's stock looks like "quarter" sawn stump wood. It's almost unfair to compare the two because of the usual price difference.

You can always scrub it again and re-oil it. I would use something like Formby's Furniture Refinisher on the scotchbrite pad to take off the old finish while scrubbing off some of the stain. You could also just dry sand it.

Whatever you do, you will not likely see much curl on the sides of the stock--just on the bottom and top.

Click to expand...

I was looking up Formby's Furniture Restorer . . . it looks like that's been taken over by MinWax . . . it also looks like a stripper. . . it's pretty expensive on Amazon & eBay . . . any other product suggestions, should I attempt to take off some of the brown AF to show more stripe contrast ? I suppose, as you said I could dry sand it with a high # paper. . . I seriously might try this.

I love that Curl in Flintandsteel's above! But you can get some nice curl from Chamber's as well, of course there is a bit of premium associated. I also use a scotchbrite to rub in finish.

Not for nothin' , for a fowler, I like it the way it is. Might just be me.
Too much curl can distract from the lines of the gun. I never did a build with anything above a grade 3 maple for that reason.
Fowlers look good in walnut too, plain or crotch. Simplicity of the gun and the wood seem to play off each other. The over the top crotch I save for turning bowls. My 2 cents anyway.

Well, I knew I didn't have a super curly stock in my Chambers PA fowler, nor did I expect one, but when I hit it with Nitric and rubbed oil in it, I was surprised that it had about 50% . . it was a little nicer than I had expected. . . it's under there, but not real visible outside of good sunlight. . . had I rubbed back the Aqua Fortis finish with more effort, it would have shown up much more. Now I am wondering about taking some steel wool to it, to take off the finish and a little bit of the "brown stain" to see if it "pops" the curl a little more when the oil finish goes back on.

Why not... Not going to hurt anything and you might just get what you are looking for.

I did a Chambers York kit about 15 years ago, i left to much wood on it in a few areas , So over the Winter I used Zip Strip to take off the Chambers oil finish and Shaved it down then refinished. the Zip strip worked great

I’m attempting the same end goal, but trying yellow Aniline dye before tru-oil. Not quite ready for that in my build yet, but I appreciate this post.
Do you who use scotchbright pads use the blue pad (I assume)? And... is that just between the stain or dye, and the tru-oil? Or do you apply the oil with the scotchbright pad? Or both?

Maroon pad, don’t use tru-oil. After Ferric nitrate, rub back with Scotchbrite and Chambers oil For first coat. All additional coats applied the same. Not necessary to sand between coats.
No stain will bring out figure that isn’t there.

The maroon pad is very fine, the gray pad is ultra fine and the white has abrasives for cleaning.