Dark finish for maple?

I made the mistake of getting a Pecatonica fusil kit with a maple stock. It is a good, strong piece of wood, though, and will yield a nice gun. But what steps, stains would work best to make this thing look walnut-stocked at least from five yards away? I have some aqua fortis from Bill at Wahkon Bay, but any other suggestions would be most welcome. Fortunately, I was smart enough to order iron furniture ...

Fresh Wahkon Bay Aqua Fortis will do a good job of giving you a dark stock. I stained one of my rifles with this and it turned out very dark, darker than most walnut. However, on another rifle I built last year, the same kind of stain, only a lot older, gave a lighter shade, which worked out OK because it shows the curl a lot better.

If you put it on heavy and make sure it is well heated, you should be happy with the result.

I used a vinegar and dissolved steel stain on a couple of maple stocked rifles I built and people were always commenting on how beautiful those walnut stocks were. With the vinegar stain, they do look like walnut, but not a dark color, more like a light brown walnut.

The thing with the vinegar stain is, it needs to brew for at least a month or two. The longer it sets the better. I start out dissolving steel wool in a jar full of vinegar. Once the steel wool has dissolved, I throw in a handful of rusty nails or such. I keep the lid off so that some of the liquid evaporates, then add more vinegar so that the stain gets more concentrated as time goes by. It's good to test on a piece of wood that came from the same stock you want to stain, or a spot on the stock that doesn't show, like the barrel channel or lock mortice. Don't test on the wood behind the buttplate because the end grain will show darker than the side grain. No heating involved.

The aqua fortis will make it as dark as you want, just keep adding applications and then don't nutralize. But I think it tends to have more black color than most walnut. Bill

If the aqua fortis doesn't darken it to your liking after applying the heat that's required to make it dark you can always use a alcohol based Walnut stain on it before you apply any oils.

Whatever you do, don't use a oil based stain unless you are willing to take what you get.

That is to say, an oil based stain can only darken the wood up to the point where the wood is saturated with the oil base.
With an alcohol based stain, because the carrier (alcohol) evaporates you can apply as many coats as you wish and each one will make the wood darker.

Thanks guys. I have had the Wahkon Bay aqua fortis for several years now -- unopened.Anything I can do to "activate" it?

Aqua fortis is stored ina darkened place out of sun light, I have some from Kettenburg thats 6 years old and still works great. You should be ok, just open it and use it.

Just used some I bought 15 years ago and it worked fine. Had it stored in a drawer in the brown bottle.

EK makes great Nitric Stain- I have some about 5 years old- I took 1/2 of it and dissolved some steel wool into it- turned like a muddy river but man what a color it makes, TGP

If you use a potassium permanganate wash (no, it is NOT Magic Maple; that is chromium trioxide) on top of AQF it will be quite dark, like "D" below.

Here is a picture of curly maple stained with various homemade AQF stains of varying strength, with and w/o a potassium permanganate wash.



You could also experiment (horrors, I know) with your big box store "walnut" stains. Or if that is too horrifying, go to Woodcrafters, where you can buy the same sort of stuff but feel better aobut it, LOL.

http://www.laurelmountainforge.com/stain.htm

Works like a champ.

Is iron correct for the period?

Rich: Let me get this right. You apply the aqua fortis, then wipe over it with a potassium permanganate solution, then apply the heat?
Where are you getting your PP?

I have gotten some in crystals here.. http://www.chemistrystore.com/search.cgi

Sometimes you can find it in stores that deal heavy in aquariums, etc.
I used to be able to get it in tablet form at the local corner drug store when there was such a thing.

This stuff looks great on maple when used alone but it fades out FAST when used all by it's lonesome. I have never used it in conjunction with nitric.

I did the exact same thing with the same kit! I used the Laurel Mt. forge nut brown stain, came out real good.

BillinOregon said:

Rich: Let me get this right. You apply the aqua fortis, then wipe over it with a potassium permanganate solution, then apply the heat?
Where are you getting your PP?

Click to expand...

I do the AQF then heat till I get the general tone and depth I want, then wash with the potassium permanganate. I have some from my lab. A little goes a long ways.