Aqua Fortis and BLO

While I agree it would look better if it were a bit darker, if I had a gun that looked like that now I'd leave well enough alone and make the next one darker. That is Beautiful as-is.

brazosland said:

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I think it looks great!

Agree with the above comments. I think it looks awesome like it is.

Personally I too like darker stripes!

For BLO use - be careful - while you'll likely just use a patch sized cloth to wipe it on a musket or rifle stock, BE AWARE rags saturated in BLO can spontaeously combust! I personally know of 2 friends who had garage/house fires due to rags and BLO. One lost everything ...

Flint62Smoothie brings up a good point. i too have seen fires caused via this. cotton is the culprit.
as to Aqua Fortis being a devils brew, i would need some very strong evidence of its evil.

brazosland said:

Short version…have a rifle stock, very curly maple, that was finished recently with a few coats of BLO. Rubbed in.

Can I use Agua Fortis to darken the grain?

Stock is a light blond color now. Want to darken it and really make it pop. Can I do this with the BLO in the wood?

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That’s a beautiful stock and too light for my taste too. Unfortunately BLO has closed the grain and the off-ramp to anything water based like Aqua Fortis.
Keep driving to plan B.

The end grain of the curls sucks in whatever you try to seal it with and contrasts with the face grain that doesn’t allow much penetration.

Alcohol based stains like Laurel Mtn Forge for wood or Feibings and Angelus for leather might leave enough pigment in the end grain to give you the contrast you want.
When dry rub it back with “synthetic steel wool” starting with white scotch brite (super ultra deluxe extra Fine) moving to more aggressive colors as needed. Even 0000 real steel wool is too aggressive sometimes.

Plan C may look like the Duke boys crashing the General Lee through a Bridge Out barricade but it might work best.
(There’s a well respected builder who does it often, I know, “Heretic”!)

Spray the whole stock with flat black spray paint, when dry rub back as far as you need to, starting with the finest grit to avoid damage to the carvings and moldings.

Great advice Bad.

Love the analogy for Plan C. There were a lot of Gen Lee’s…I only have one of this stock. I ain’t brave enough for that!

I do want a darker stock overall with more of the grain showing in contrast. I guess the alchohol based stains are the way to go.

I stole this pic from Phil Collins in another thread. This is about where I would like to get this stock darkness wise.

I have had difficulty in mastering just the right application and heat combination of Aqua Fortis to get a good looking stain that isn't nearly black. It is a hit and miss for me after all these years. I used it on my rifle back in the early 1980's, along with the Wakon Bay oil finish and it did not last long. After the rifle got soaked at a rondy, the finish was pretty much ruined and I stripped it all off and went a different direction.

Aqua Fortis is Nitric Acid.
Aqua Regia is a 3:1 mixture of concentrated HCL acid with concentrated Nitric Acid.

Should be careful with Aqua Fortis...Be ABSOLUTELY paranoid cautious with Aqua Regia.

Aqua Fortis will not dissolve gold; Aqua Regia will.
FWIW I wouldn't play with either of them.