Potassium Permanganate

[kansas_volunteer]

Whatever happened to potassium permanganate as a stock stain? Back in the early '70s it was quite common. Friends who built rifles would treat their curly maple with aqua fortis, then stain with the permanganate. I've seen no mention of it here -- that I can recall.

 

[2172]

I've been told that in time it would turn the wood green..Hank

 

[Capt. Jas.]

I have used it. I have a huge jar of the powder in the shop but it has a tendancy to fade out. I will use it on small items like a horn plug or something like that.

The fading plus the fact it became harder to come by locally would be my guess as to it not being mentioned much. There are much better agents for putting color to a stock IMHO.

James

 

[rich pierce]

It's the chromic acid stains that turn green, "Magic Maple" etc.

KMNO4 won't go green. It can be used over AQF with good effect. And if you like aging, it's easy to use and "wear some off" to show areas with lighter color.

 

[Vaino]

My first LR built in 1978 was stained w/ potassium permanganate and has turned slightly green and also has faded quite a bit. As it faded the green also faded, so now it's not as green as it was originally. Haven't used it since.....Fred

 

[Dave K]

My first custom gun was stained with potassium. It looked great out of the shipping box. The first hunt was a week long hunting trip of carrying it everyday. At the balance point of the gun, where it is normal to be carried, it was darn near white by the end of the week. I stripped the gun and used Danglers stains to redo the gun. That was in 2002. Many miles have been used on the gun since with out signs of losing color. I have seen aquafortis stocks turn green if they are not properly done. As a matter of fact I have two bottles of the stuff sitting here and I am scared to use it, because of the green guns I have seen.

 

[Harddog]

I have seen aquafortis stocks turn green if they are not properly done. As a matter of fact I have two bottles of the stuff sitting here and I am scared to use it, because of the green guns I have seen.

Dave,

There is nothing in aqua fortis that will turn a stock green. Maybe you have seen stocks done with chromic acid that turned green. THe chromic acid stain turns green with exposure to sunlight.

Randy Hedden

 

[Dave K]

You are probably right. I just remember, probably wrong, that if aquafortis is not heated properly or neutralized properly it would turn green. I have never used it for the fear of a green stock. Again, no actual hands on knowledge, just may have received the wrong knowledge.

 

[bingo1952]

One other thing to remember with this stuff is that it is a strong oxidizer. Be careful how you store it. Precautions similar to BP would probably be in order.

 

[rfcbuf]

Please explain what product you beleive to be a strong oxidizer; potasium promanganate or aqua fortis? What are the dangers that should be avoided. Finally how should it be stored?

I've had both potassium promanganate powder (in a covered bottle)and nitric acid (in a covered bottle)stored for years with no problem.

 

[Zonie]

Potasium permanganate is a strong oxidizer. See Wikipedia link: http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_permanganate
It was the "Z-Stoff" used in the German WW2 Rocket plane.
It is also popular with the druggies as they use it in making some of their illegal products. For that reason the DEA has classified it as a "List I controlled precursor" which basically means they frown on folks having it.

Nitric Acid is another very strong oxidizer but I think that the Aqua Fortis we usually use in staining stocks is much weaker.
In our case, the nitric acid has expended much of its oxidizing strength in reducing the iron to iron oxide.

Read more about Nitric Acid in this Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitric_acid

 

[bingo1952]

What Zonie said.
:nono: :v

 

[CZMark]

Around here, everyone has a few jugs of potassium permanganate in their basement. It is the chemical used to regenerate green sand filter beds--what we use to filter heavy concentrations of iron out of our water supply.

Without an iron filter in these parts, a glass of drinking water has a very noticeable brown tint to it, along with a fairly disagreeable taste.

 

[Tinker2]

Potasium permanganate is a strong oxidizer. See Wikipedia link: http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_permanganate
It was the "Z-Stoff" used in the German WW2 Rocket plane.

Zonie

Thanks for the information.
I do appreciate you posting that link.




Tinker2