Aqua fortis

[Dan Herda]

When using aqua fortis, can you apply then heat to see the color and darkness then if you want it darker , apply another cote and heat again? And maybe again?
Tia

[rich pierce]

Yes. I allow each application to dry a couple hours before blushing. Or longer; depends on whether it by the stove or not.

[Dan Herda]

Thank you Rich

[Wiley1]

That is what I did to mine. I put a coat on,  let it dry, and then put some heat to it. Then I applied a second coat and did the same. I used a harbor freight heat gun to warm it up. What I learned is that the more you heat the wood the darker the color would get. Just be careful not to scorch it. If you don't smell the iron nitrate then the wood isn't hot enough. I did my entire rifle and when I was done it looked ok but still had a green tint to it. So I played around with the heat on a practice piece to find how much heat I could apply. Then went back over the gun. This time I got the smell and the color to come out.

[Jim Kibler]

You'll generally get just a touch darker with a second application, but not a huge difference.  You should always thoroughly heat and not try to adjust color based on amount of heating.

Jim

[Eric Krewson]

All of the stocks I stained with aqufortis got darker over the years, they were all neutralized with dilute ammonia which was probably unnecessary but I did it anyway.

[Dan Herda]

Thank you all for the replys👍🏻