muriatic acid

[wisconsinteacher]

Where can I find muriatic acid and how much is it?  Can I use it on my curly maple that is attatched to the knife?

[Scott Roush]

I bought mine at a local hardware store.  Very cheap. I'm not sure how concentrated the stuff that Clay uses... but the stuff I bought seems pretty weak. It took over a day to dissolve the steel wool. By the way... I heard that you have to degrease the steel wool first. I soaked mine in acetone, squeezed it out and let it dry.   Anyway.... I was only able to get a very weak showing of character doing this. And I'm sure I'm doing something wrong.  But I sanded away and I used my Fiebings medium brown leather dye (alcohol based). I made three different dilutions using rubbing alcohol and applied each, weakest first and sanding between each application. It's coming out very nice.  I will post some pics in a few days. This knife is finally DUN.

[mater]

They use it to wash bricks after they lay them,so I would think masonary stores or lumber yards.

[James Oertel]

it,s used too clean swimming pools and masonary products .   you can get at a pool supply store

[Scott Roush]

and yeah... you can use it on the wood attached to your knife. It might give it a patina (thats what I buy the stuff for.. an antiqued patina)... but you can buff it out if you get some on your blade.

[Ragnarok Forge]

I use a fairly concentrated Muriatic Acid diluted to three to one with water.  I dissolve steel wool in the acid / water over a couple of days until it won't dissolve any more steel.  This is a very important step to getting the coloring you want.

The key to the depth and chatoyance you want is to use two good coats on the wood.  The acid actually burns the wood and imparts the color ( yellow ) into the grain.  Once you have coated the wood twice, wash with baking soda in water to deactivate the acid.  Wash clean with regular water and then let dry.  Once dry, heat the wood until it is almost black.  Then finish as noted in prior post.  The real key here is that the color is now part of the wood grain.  It won't leach out or sand thru like stain.

Always wear gloves and eye protection and alway add acid to water, not water to acid. This method is worth the effort it takes to get the results you want.

[Scott Roush]

Yeah... I guess I didn't let enough of the steel wool to dissolve.  When I put it in there I expected steam, bubbling and fumes.  None of that happened so I got impatient.   I'm gonna try this again next time.  But I gotta tell ya... that leather dye worked wonders on my curly maple.

[imskippy]

I'd be interested in seeing what exactly it is your accomplishing with this process. It certainly sounds interesting. Skippy

[Scott Roush]

If you look up some curly maple muzzleloader stocks... you will see basically what the effect is.

[Ragnarok Forge]

Mossanimal is correct. This is the preferred method for high end muzzloader builders.  The effect on the wood is amazing.

[Maxximusgrind]

They call it aquafortis,it is considered one of the oldest wood stains for guns and there were variations to change the color.
   Robert

[Maxximusgrind]

also if you dont want to mess with doing the dissolving-you can buy it ready to go through a blackpowder supplier.
  Robert

[PM_Mining]

I always thought that the gun stock stain being discussed was made with Nitric acid, not muriatic.  In fact, the obsolite name for Nitric Acid is aquafortis.  

Actually, this is the first time I have ever heard of anyone using muriatic for stain.  I will have to try this out now and see what it does differently than the Nitric.

[Scott Roush]

Nitric is the stuff in Aquafortis. I believe that nitric has the same effect without having some kind of metal dissolved in it. But once you see the yellowing of the solution once the steel wool dissolves... you will see how it can work. The nice thing about muriatic is that you can buy it at a hardware store.  Not sure where to get nitric unless you just buy the aquafortis stain.

[kbaknife]

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/pdfs/aquafortis.pdf

[Maxximusgrind]

My appolagies.
I dug out my aquafortis and checked and its nitric acid.so muratic may work the same,or not?Sorry for chiming in without having my facts straight.I would deffinately be interested to hear if its different than aquafortis,or even if it works as well at getting the same results.
 Also does anyone know how the two acids compare for strength?

[PM_Mining]

For strength, generally, they do not compare.  Generally, the muriatic you by at the hardware store is ~32% and Nitric is generally ~68%.  However, each can be diluted with water to make weaker solutions.

Both react differently with respect to organic material, which is why the mention of muriatic as a stain carrier caught me unaware.  As well, the reaction to iron is different for each acid.  

Both these acids,  as well as sulphuric, were well known at the time that Nitric was used to stain maple gun stocks.  The fact that Nitric was the acid of choice leaves me believing it is the better choice.  Sulphuric was sometimes added to the nitric to darken the wood with less heat.

[Scott Roush]

well now that my steel wool dissolved, I sanded off most of the Fiebings which left nice dark bands... but light colored highlights. I'm now hitting it with the muriatic and it starting to really look spectacular now.  I will try to post this knife tomorrow.

[EASTERNARCHER]

How do you make this acid stain?
I wonder how it would work on staining belly and riser woods on a bow????Osage and Ipe

[Scott Roush]

http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=110;t=002155

Clay posted his method in that thread. I'm running with it...