Aqua fortis

[Yellowhouse]

Wanting to make my own using wrought iron filings. Is 0.1N Nitric acid strong enough to handily dissolve the iron?

 

[Crewdawg445]

Your application of heat will likely be more important, as will this granulation of filings. Should work fine none the less.

Noticed your location, I'm Anishinaabe, welcome! Glad to have another brother aboard!

 

[Black Hand]

Wanting to make my own using wrought iron filings. Is 0.1N Nitric acid strong enough to handily dissolve the iron?

Do not breathe any of the red-brown fumes...

Dissolve as much iron as the acid will handle.

 

[Yellowhouse]

Wanting to make my own using wrought iron filings. Is 0.1N Nitric acid strong enough to handily dissolve the iron?

Do not breathe any of the red-brown fumes...

Dissolve as much iron as the acid will handle.

Am very aware of hazards involved....my question is whether the 0.1N solution will suffice or will it take too long (i.e. weeks). What I'm trying to avoid is storing excess in the form of concentrations e.g. 1 or even 6N.

 

[Black Hand]

The higher the concentration of acid, the more rapid & vigorous the reaction. Just add iron to the acid you have and let it work - add more iron when the previous has dissolved. When it stops dissolving, either you can add more acid and continue or be done. It will eventually get there...

Or you can buy a bottle from TOW and avoid all the hazards and annoyance. I understand the desire to do it yourself (as I did do it myself once), but for the cost (~$10), I didn't find it was worth the effort.

 

[Dane]

Or,.... you can just order ferric nitrate crystals from the Science Co, and not have to worry about it.

 

[plmeek]

A concentrated solution of nitric acid is normally used to dissolve iron and make ferric nitrate. You won't be able to dissolve much iron with a dilute solution.

By the way, aqua fortis is an old term that means "strong water" and was used for nitric acid in the day. Some outfits are using Aqua Fortis as a marketing term for what is really ferric nitrate. Like a lot of marketing, it's misleading.

Your 0.1N nitric acid can be used as is for a very nice gun stock stain. I know several master gunsmiths that use it almost exclusively.

The top two rifles in the picture below were stained with 10% solution nitric acid. The bottom rifle was stained with ferric nitrate (Wahkon Bay AQUAFORTIS). The stripes are artificial striping added after the stain was applied and blushed with heat. The background color is the stain.

With both dilute nitric acid and ferric nitrate, the colors will vary from one piece of wood to the other. That said, dilute nitric acid will often have a more reddish hue while ferric nitrate will be more brown. Both bring out the natural curl in maple extremely well.

You might want to test your 0.1N nitric acid on a piece of your stock wood and see if you like it.

 

[apachesx2]

What do you mean artificial striping? How did you add striping beyond the wood?

 

[plmeek]

What do you mean artificial striping? How did you add striping beyond the wood?

It's basically a stain or dye painted on the stock. Jack Brooks describes the technique on his website.

https://www.jsbrookslongrifles.com/theclassroom.htm

Scroll down near the bottom of the page to where you see the topic titled "How Do You Stripe a Leman stock?"

Henry Leman and some other Lancaster gunsmiths did it on their inexpensive rifles back in the 19th century.

The wood used in the three rifles pictured above was very plain maple with no natural curl or striping.

Phil Meek

 

[Col. Batguano]

Wait a second. You mean some AF bottles are not nitric acid, but are dissolved FN crystals? Is there a difference? Your stock results would certainly seem to indicate there is. So who's AF is REAL AF, and who's is FN?

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
Ferric nitrate crystals in water and iron dissolved in nitric acid are chemically the same thing. The only difference is the hydrogen ion concentration in the acid produced solution is higher. The earliest references for "aqua fortis" of which I am aware come from about 1200 AD. They are for aqua fortis or "loud water" which meant just nitric acid. Later, aqua fortis came to mean a stain in which iron is dissolved in nitric acid. Nitric acid alone, painted on maple, dried and then blushed will turn the wood orangy-yellow to blushing pink depending on the wood. Those of you who started this game long ago may remember Bill McCory's little book on building a long rifle. He described staining maple using first nitric acid alone to create a reddish undertone and then some other brownish stain on top. That was the method I used for years until I was not in a place (Alaska) where I could get nitric acid easily. That is when I moved on first to aniline dyes and then to ferric nitrate crystals, which I could get shipped with no hazardous material costs and limitations. I use ferric nitrate crystals now to stain maple. Depending on the wood and my concentration, I can create most combinations of reddish brown that I desire. If the particular wood does not give me the reddish tones I want, I first use plain nitric acid and then other colors on top. I test wood from every stock I make first and decide the treatment depending on my results and objectives. I don't know how Wahkon Bay makes their "aqua fortis" but I suspect Mt. Meek was comparing just nitric acid with any ferric nitrate solution whether produced from crystals or by adding iron to acid (what most of you call aqua fortis).

dave