Vinegar stain question

[Cory Joe Stewart]

Hello all.

Since vinegar is technically an acid, do you need to do anything to neutralize it like you do other acids?

Coryjoe

[A.Merrill]

    No, I never have but I only used it twice. When you can't smell the vinegar any more your ready for the finish.

[Cory Joe Stewart]

What if you still smell the salsa that was in the jar you mixed it in?

Coryjoe

[Dogshirt]

Get a basket of chips!

[Cory Joe Stewart]

I do

[Rolf]

I've use it seven pistol stocks. I wait 24hours  between each coat. Thats long enough for most of the vinegar to evaporat and give you an idea of the finished color. The last coat I let dry 2-
3 day before oiling the stock.

Best regards
Rolf

[davebozell]

Do you put anything in the vinegar?  (old nails, etc.)

[Rolf]

I use Liberon steelwool that I wash in in the dishwasher to get rid of the oils. Brew in regual cheap white vinegar for 8 -12 weeks. Fiter through a coffey filter. Try on scraps. The first 1-2 coats turn the wood blue/grey. Next coats change the color to brown/red. Dilute with vinegar to you get the color you want.
Adding vinegar makes the stain more acidic and more reddish. But this also dilutes the color and make more coats nessessary.


best regards
Rolf

[Cory Joe Stewart]

I used steel wool as well.  I have made several batches for leather.  The most recent batch cooked very very fast.   I am wondering if it is because of the heat.  It normally takes me about two weeks to get the color I want out of it, this took two days.  I was amazed when I noticed the wool was already eaten up.  I tried it on leather and wood and it looks great. 

Cory

[Hungry Horse]

Rolf;

  Thanks for the information regarding several coats of the vinegar and iron mixture. I put on a couple of coats on a test block, and when it did't turn red/brown gave it up as a bad idea. I'm going to put a couple more coats on and see what happens.

               Hungry Horse

[ironwolf]

  You need to heat the wood with a torch or heat gun to get the proper color change.  You only need to wait 'till the wood is fully dry, usually about an hour.   Look up Aqua Fortis and Nitrate of iron in the archives.

   KW

[Rolf]

  You need to heat the wood with a torch or heat gun to get the proper color change.  You only need to wait 'till the wood is fully dry, usually about an hour.   Look up Aqua Fortis and Nitrate of iron in the archives.

   KW

You don't need heat for the iron/vinegar stain. These pistols are stained with iron/vinegar, dried indoors, no heat applied. Vinegar boils at 100  celsius and evaporates at room temperatur. Nitric acid boils at 120 celsius and does not evaporate at room temperatur. Thats why stocks stained with aqua fortis have to be heated.

Best regards
Rolf

[ironwolf]

  Good looking guns Rolf.  I can't dispute your results,  but I ain't waitin' no 12 weeks for the acidification process.  Heck I may not live that long.  I don't even buy green bananas anymore.
  Both Vinegar and AF are mostly water.  The AF that I make is about 10% at most.  The water component evaporates, i.e. the stock dries in about an hour.  What remains behind is the converted acid in the form of crystals.  The water in all acids evaporates.  That's how you make it more concentrated in an acid plant during the mfg. process. 

   Isn't this fun,   KW

[Long John]

Friends,

Listen to Rolf.  He has it right.  I use common nails and old rusty barbed wire in cider vinegar.  I have a crock of the stuff that has been brewing for 20 years.  I just decant off some of the liquid and apply.  As Rolf said you DO NOT need to heat the stock  - the acetic acid will vaporize and leave the stock on its own.  Heating will accelerate this process but heating is NOT necessary.  Usually the stained stock will look gray until the finish is applied.  This is due to the light-scattering effect of unfinished wood.

There is a lot on vinegar in teh archives from several years ago.

Best Regards,

John Cholin

[wilkie]

I've uesd vin@steel wool stain for several years.  You will need to determine proportions for the color you want.  If you use the stain when it has the red iron oxide color you can come back after it has dried and soak a shoe string type cord in distilled vin, wring out till damp, then wrap around and it will darken the red oxide to almost black oxide color as the acid consumes more of the red oxide to produce stripes.  If you use too much vin you will wind up with an almost black oxide stain.  Proportions are important depending on what you want.  You can make a stripped ramrod with the red oxide and a damp vin cord wrap.    

[PPatch]

Yep, no heat needed or desired.

[Acer Saccharum]

Vinegar stained gun, but it was so long ago, I don't remember how many applications I did.

[E.vonAschwege]

"Vinegar stained gun, but it was so long ago, I don't remember how many applications I did."


You even managed to kill a few hot peppers with it.  That is a handsome gun, what'd you use for finish on that one?

[Acer Saccharum]

Chambers oil.

[Dennis Glazener]

You don't need heat for the iron/vinegar stain. These pistols are stained with iron/vinegar, dried indoors, no heat applied. Vinegar boils at 100  celsius and evaporates at room temperatur.

I was not aware you did not have to heat vinegar/iron solution. How long does it need to dry? I have a batch brewing now, wrought iron/vinegar. I have not used it because I ruined by heat gun (dropped it and broke the porcelain grid in the muzzle)!

The only thing about AF that I dislike is the possibility of charring the wood.

[Acer Saccharum]

If you like dark finishes, then charring the wood is not a problem. 

[Long John]

Dennis,

If you can't smell it, its gone.  Vinegar (acetic acid) has a very high vapor pressure at room temperatures.  It will evaporate as fast as the water in the stain.  I apply the stain and give it an hour or so to dry, perhaps a little longer in summer.  Then I dewisker the stock with a hemp brush made from hemp dock lines.  Since acetic acid is much weaker than nitric acid vinegar/iron stain will have a lower concentration of iron ions in solution.  So, it will take several applications of the vinegar/iron stain to achieve the same quantity of iron in the wood, and color intensity, than would be achieved with a single application of a stain made from a stronger acid.  But you have to dewisker several times anyway so why not stain and dewisker concurrently?

This rifle was stained with vinegar and iron stain.



Best Regards,

John Cholin

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

And John....That is one pretty rifle!!

[Dennis Glazener]

Dennis,

If you can't smell it, its gone.  Vinegar (acetic acid) has a very high vapor pressure at room temperatures.  It will evaporate as fast as the water in the stain.

That sounds good, I will use it on the fowler I am building now.
Thanks
Dennis

[Acer Saccharum]

..and just because it smells like salad, doesn't mean you can eat it.