Ferric Nitrate from Crystals Question

[DanL]

I have some older Ferric Nitrate that was in a lab. The original amount of purplish crystals was estimated at 125grams or about 1/4 jar of 500 gram lab bottle.

Over the years the cap was left slightly loose and humidity entered and now the ferric nitrate crystals are a thick liquid solution similar in viscosity to syrup.

My question is: I would like to dilute this solution more. What is best to use to dilute the product?  I was thinking Distilled/deionized water but I wanted to check here before I did anything.

I plan to use it on some test wood samples of maple and other to see how it looks.

Thanks,
Dan

[Ky-Flinter]

DanL,

I just did a search on Ferric Nitrate crystals and found that some people mix their Ferric Nitrate crystals with distilled water, others use denatured alcohol.  I guess you could use either.  The thought with using alcohol was it would raise the grain less.

Ron

[DanL]

Thanks Ron. I performed a search here and saw many different opinions of course. In hind sight, since the solution that I have was caused by humidity in the air, I will continue a dilution with distilled water.

The solution that I have is a beautiful reddish-brown which I hope to convey to a stock at some point. From reading the search results, It seems I should not have an issue if I go too far with the water dilution. I can do repeated applications to get the color that I prefer or close to it.

Live and learn....
Thanks again.
Dan

[Waksupi]

I use denatured alcohol. Different amounts will make lighter hues, so I can start with a light color, and add another coat if I want it darkened more.

[davec2]

DanL,

Adding water should be easy and work well.  If you decide you have diluted the iron nitrate too far just evaporate some of the water on a hot plate in a Pyrex dish....nice thing about dilutions, you can add or subtract the dilutent fairly easily.

[Dphariss]

I add denatured alcohol to  stain made with distilled water  to give better penetration on traditional stock finishes when repairs are needed. I use dostilled water based stain otherwise.