Steve, your kidding. I just noticed your signature line. I used to live about 10 miles from Bill. Visited his shop often. I really wish I'd had the foresight to order one of his knives when he was still taking orders. Since this is a trad bow site, I'll pass on a little story. A bunch of us from the Chesapeake Bay Knife Club were visiting his shop. One of us was a 20-something kid just a bit full of himself. He and Bill Moran started talking bows. Bill shot every day out behind his shop and had several bows hanging on the wall. He took one down, strung it and handed it to the young guy. The kid said "nice bow, but a bit too light for me" Bill didn't say a word, but took the second longbow down and strung it. The kid couldn't even begin to get it back to anchor. He looked at Bill with a whole lot of respect in his eyes and then found an excuse to wander away. Bill said "Guess I forgot to tell him - I can't draw that bow either". A man with a real talent, but also a great sense of humor.
With respect to the acid, I found that you can dilute it, or leave it pretty strong. Really diluted will give maple a bright yellow color; full strength a very dark chestnut. I always worried just a little about what the residual acid might do to the tang. Looks like I better start working with leather dyes more - see if I can come up with a color like that.
That is just one really beautiful knife.