AQUAFORTIS

[bowkill]

In the final finishing of a rifle and your going to use AQUAFORTIS and have all you brass on gun, do you need to remove the brass first . patchbox and nose cap come to mind. will the acid hurt the brass?

[Ed Wenger]

I would take off all the brass you can.  Iron nitrate won’t “hurt” the brass, but will discolor it, which means you’ll have to repolish.  At any rate, I’d avoid slathering it on any brass.  That’s just my personal preference since I usually “age” brass by other methods.


             Ed

[M. E. Pering]

I generally remove as much brass first as is practical, as in my experience, Aquafortis tends to leave a whitish-yellow cast to the finish.  But of course, some inlays and the nosecap are sometimes not possible to remove.  In these cases, I just try and not let the Aquafortis sit on the brass very long, and wipe it immediately.  All it takes though is a light burnishing afterwards to restore the brass to normal.  Silver is another story... It will darken silver, and nickel-silver to, but in both cases, this is generally easily buffed away.  Can't say about iron or steel, since I have never let it touch those parts.  BTW, I am using TOTW Aquafortis, and not my own mix.

The main reason I remove the brass though is more that I tend to finish a gun under the parts as well, so it is not because of the Aquafortis I do it.  I am just a believer in getting sealant of some sort on all parts of the wood that may come into contact with water.

Matt

[Davemuzz]

When I applied the Aquafortis to my build my nose cap was permanently affixed to the wood. So, I simply taped off the metal so it would not be affected by the AQ. Worked out very well.

[David R. Pennington]

Well I did one with some silver wire and it darkened the silver and discolored the wood around it.😕

[bowkill]

Well I did one with some silver wire and it darkened the silver and discolored the wood around it.😕

My gun has some brass wire in it. Not sure but may of used it on a gun with brass at one time and rubbed it with steel wool and it was good.. May need to experiment first or just use stain..

[Scota4570]

Did you use sandpaper to level the wire?  Could be powdered silver has tarnished. 

[smart dog]

Hi,
This is why I greatly prefer ferric nitrate crystals dissolved in water to iron dissolved in actual nitric acid.  Chemically they are the same but the ferric nitrate solution is a much weaker acid and does not oxidize brass, German silver, or silver nearly to the extent that acid-containing aqua fortis can.  Any discoloring can be removed by light rubbing with Scotch Bright pads.  Also David R's post demonstrates why I use fine silver wire on guns that will be stained with any acid-derived stain like ferric nitrate and aqua fortis. Because of the lower copper content, fine silver does not react or tarnish as badly.

dave 

[Mike Brooks]

This was done with Ferric Nitrate. No problemo.

[Marcruger]

<<<Well I did one with some silver wire and it darkened the silver and discolored the wood around it.😕>>>


Not what you were after David R., but I like the look.  Happy outcome.  God Bless,   Marc

[Mark Elliott]

I don't like putting any water on a stock without all the hardware place.   However, I rub down the stock with a light gray Scotchbrite pad after staining.   That will clean up any brass or silver.  I will then take off all (except for inlays) the metal hardware for finishing.   I usually polish all the metal parts I can remove off the stock before bluing, browing, or aging. 

[Wyoduster]

Ash stock with aquafortis on and heated with hair dryer.. ended up using a torch to darken it.

[smallpatch]

Who,
Definitely needs more blushing.  You can see the red, but also still green. 
A hair dryer usually won't get hot enough.  Use an industrial heat gun.  Looks like a hair dryer, but gets MUCH hotter.
Hers what it should look like.

[bob in the woods]

Some items are easier to remove , but I never will remove a patch box again once it's installed. I did once a long time ago and it was a royal pain to get it back in with as good a fit as the first time.

[longcruise]

Just a thought here but would it be possible to coat the inlays with wax for protection?

[Scotty]

hello all,
 What is the ratio of ferric nitrate to water?
thanks

[BOB HILL]

Longcruise, I would be afraid I would get the wax on the stock when I blushed if not before. Just my thoughts.
Bob

[Jim Kibler]

This was done with Ferric Nitrate. No problemo.

Is this the ferric nitrate we sold you?  Nice looking finish.

Jim

[Mike Brooks]

This was done with Ferric Nitrate. No problemo.

Is this the ferric nitrate we sold you?  Nice looking finish.

Jim

Sho' 'nuff Jim. Started with your tannic acid then followed with your ferric nitrate and scrubbed it out with linseed oil and a purple scotchbrite, wiped all the linseed oil off after that. The linseed was a big mistake, never could get anything to dry on that stock after that, all gummy. finally resorted to mineral spirts and a good scrub with a rag to remove everything, then let it sit in the sun for a couple days. It straightened right around after that and finished up fine.

[Daryl]

Well I did one with some silver wire and it darkened the silver and discolored the wood around it.😕

On my monitor, those dark borders on the silver look GREAT - I thought that was deliberate.  It looks like a dark wood inlay with silver in the middle. Maybe it's just my monitor.

[Davemuzz]

Well I did one with some silver wire and it darkened the silver and discolored the wood around it.😕

On my monitor, those dark borders on the silver look GREAT - I thought that was deliberate.  It looks like a dark wood inlay with silver in the middle. Maybe it's just my monitor.

I thought the same thing but wasn't going to say that. I figured everyone would think I was nutz. Peer pressure....... 

[David R. Pennington]

Well I don't really like it, but at this point I guess I'll live with it. I just wish I understood how to avoid it next time.

[J.E. Moore]

Napatha or Zippo lighter fluid might take it off providing it's not sealed over.

[M. E. Pering]

David R.... I think it actually is quite attractive, but I really do understand why you don't.  It isn't what you were aiming for, and as gun builders, this is important to us.  We visualize things, and then we plan on how to make that visualization a reality, and then we act, and it doesn't work out.  As the creators, we want control over all of it.  But sometimes, it just doesn't work, and maybe we need to take the Bob Ross attitude that we sometimes have "Happy accidents."

And I really think yours was one of those happy accidents.  If that gun had anything other than the iron mounts, I don't think it would have worked, but since it is iron mountings, I think it is rather beautiful.

Matt