Refinish maple stock

Hello everyone I am looking to buy a used flintlock. The problem is it is finished with aqua fortis and i do not like the green color. Can I strip the finish off and restain the stock and finish it with tru oil? I like the rifle I just don't like the color. If I strip the stock will that remove the green color so i can re stain the stock? thank you for your advice.

Hello everyone, I am thinking of buying a used flintlock that is finished with aqua fortis
problem is i do not like the green color of the stock. I usually stain my stocks with leather dye and finish with tru oil. Thank you for all your advice.

If the stock has a sort of greenish cast, then it was possibly stained with aqua fortis (probably the commercial product with HCl in it) and it wasn't done well. If it is REALLY green, then it was probably stained with chromium trioxide.

Aqua Fortis can be reapplied and finished correctly, and it should color out well. I actually don't know if you can really deal with the chromium trioxide or not.

Never done a maple stock but have stained many thousands of square feet of wood flooring of every species imaginable. Some natural woods have a greenish cast . To neutralize the gree we always used a stain with a red tone. It makes the green brown.
Dave

Check out these instructions for Aquafortis from the TOW. May help with some of your questions. https://www.trackofthewolf.com/Pdfs/aquafortis/Instructions.pdf

If it's green-gray, that might be indicative that the AF wasn't blushed properly. A heat gun to an area will tell you. If it starts to turn yellow, then orange, then red that tells you it's AF ( or Ferric nitrate crystals).

What's the finish over the top of the stain? You might have to chemically strip (or scrape) that first to get at the stain. As long as that is not a 2-part varnish (very uncommon) you should be able to strip it pretty easily.

It might be worth your time to just take the stock to a furniture stripper/ refinishing company. That would depend on the cost to have it done, and the cost and time to you for doing it yourself. The refinishing company could probably get the stock squeaky clean for you with little effort. They would probably give you some advice about re-staining the stock. Maybe, they would even strip it for you for free, just for the novelty of it. It sure would be more interesting than dipping and stripping grandma’s old rocking chair. Spread the joy... offer to let them shoot the rifle when it’s all completed. You might make a few converts.

Aqua fortis is NOT what's causing the green color. Probably Magic Maple stain. I believe it's chromium trioxide.
Of course you can strip and refinish.
Depending on the type of finish, you may be able to over stain with an alcohol based stain, to take the green hue off.
Worth a shot anyway.
If it doesn't work, you can always do the strip and refinish.

Flintandsteel said:

Aqua fortis is NOT what's causing the green color. Probably Magic Maple stain. I believe it's chromium trioxide.
Of course you can strip and refinish.
Depending on the type of finish, you may be able to over stain with an alcohol based stain, to take the green hue off.
Worth a shot anyway.
If it doesn't work, you can always do the strip and refinish.

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Thanks everyone for your replies. I decided against the gun there were other issues.

Lotsa other fish in the sea. You'll find something.