Wahkon Bay Aqua fortis

[cmac]

The jeweler I got it from said that there where many different "grades" of nitric. I forget what purity his was but it was a strong mix: not 100% pure. I believe he uses it for industrial type cleaning. He does a lot of silver casting.

[JDK]

I was doing a bit more reading at The Science Co. website on ferric nitrate. It has a chart of different colors that require the additional addition of other chemicals to achieve a certain color or hue, such as adding ferric chloride to get a florentine brown, etc. Anyone doing any of that with the ferric nitrate?

The formulas they list are patina/finish formulas for different metals and have nothing to do with using ferric nitrate as a wood stain.  They work for the intended purposes.  J.D.

[davec2]

JD,

Those formulas are for coloring copper based alloys only.  (The title of the section is "Patina Formulas for Brass, Bronze and Copper".)  If you are intending to use them on steel or iron, they won't give you the colors indicated and probably won't work at all.  In fact, I don't think there are any formulas on that list for any iron based materials, so they would only be useful if you are talking about coloring brass rifle hardware.

CMAC - Nitric acid is sold in different concentrations but the very high concentrations are not available commercially.  The strongest nitric acid you can usually get is ~68%.  Above that (~ 85%), the acid is referred to a "fuming" and is a real pain to deal with.  At 95%, we use it for rocket fuel as an oxidizer.  IRFN and WFNA (Inhibited Red Fuming Nitric Acid and White Fuming Nitric Acid) are both such strong oxidizers that they are "hypergolic" with most organic materials, i.e. they spontaneously burst into flame without any other ignition source.  The very concentrated nitric acid versions are heavily used in the manufacture of high explosives.

DC

[JDK]

DC, Thanks.  I got that.  My point was in reply to E. Smith, explaining that those formulas weren't for wood as is what I read his question as meaning.

That being said I believe that if there is enough acidity for some of these formulas to corrode other metals, they could be used to brown/blue steel.  Has anybody here tried any Ferric Nitrate mixes to do this?  J.D.

[davec2]

JD,

I can't answer your last question directly, since I have not used any of these formulas to try to brown or blue steel.  However, I have used many in the following reference and would suggest that you save yourself a lot of time, money, and effort by getting a copy of "Firearm Bluing and Browning" by R.H. Angier.  The copyright date is 1936.  A revised addition is available at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Firearm-Blueing-Browning-Revised-Stackpole/dp/0811703266/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335119729&sr=1-2

[A.Merrill]

Yes, there are others similiar but the Wahkon Bay is the best I have used.
Dennis

I'll order on Monday. Is there any thing else I should order while I' m there to make this work?

    mbokie5, take a look at my post Lancaster Barn Gun. I used Wahkon Bay Aqua fortis stain and Wahkon Bay Tru-coat finish I order from Stonewall Creek Outfitters.    AL

[mbokie5]

Yes, there are others similiar but the Wahkon Bay is the best I have used.
Dennis

I'll order on Monday. Is there any thing else I should order while I' m there to make this work?

    mbokie5, take a look at my post Lancaster Barn Gun. I used Wahkon Bay Aqua fortis stain and Wahkon Bay Tru-coat finish I order from Stonewall Creek Outfitters.    AL

I'd love to see it. could you link me?

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

Here is the link: http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=21474.0

[mbokie5]

Beauty!

Thanks Dr. Boone.

[JDK]

I have used many in the following reference and would suggest that you save yourself a lot of time, money, and effort by getting a copy of "Firearm Bluing and Browning" by R.H. Angier.

I didn't get into this hobby to save time, money or effort.  If that was the case I would just be buying guns.

Seriously though, am familiar with the reference, thanks....I was just curious and was hoping to save some research time.  Don't see why it won't work.  Probably faster and more fun just to try it.  Enjoy, J.D.

[mbokie5]

Ordered the Aqua fortis, among other things.

Troy is very easy to get along with and extremely helpful.

[Eric Smith]

Ferric Nitrate crystals arrived from The Science Co. yesterday. Thanks to all who shared their knowledge on this subject. Us newbies still have a long way to crawl.