vinegar & steel wool

[Mad Monk]

Good info! I'm just wondering if we'd do a faster, more even job of browning if we suspended the parts/barrel etc above containers of browning solution in a closed box rather than swabbing the solution on the metal?

John.

Don't think so.

In the case of browning you are applying a corrosive to the surface and then subjecting it to a uniform level of moisture.  Most browning solutions are some form of a chloride.  In which case you need humidity to work it up into a film of an electrolyte solution that then oxidizes the surface of the metal.

Bill K.

[Mad Monk]

I would say you were pretty sharp to have figured it out on your own.

Oh wait.  I think I'm getting it. 

My last question was:

Is there a difference between what you are saying and what I am saying?

Bill's reponse was:

Not really,

I was kinda puzzled there for awhile.  Looked to me like we were on the same wave length but I am trying to do several things today at the same time.  I am getting too old to run three trains on a one-track mind!

Wife and rode the bicycles Saturday.  Some lady took photos of us.  Which showed up in yesterday's Norristown, PA Times Herald.  All sorts of e-mail flooded in today.  Folks we know from that area.

Bill K.


I just explained the chemical process the iron and acetic acid go through.

The way the formatting worked out in Bill's post I just didn't pick up on that.  Ha, ha, ha.   Man am I laughing at myself now!  Oh sure, I'm sharp enough to pick up on the iron acetate thing - but too dim to figure out that Bill was agreeing with me!  Duh. 

[Mad Monk]

forgot to mention.  Then PETA wants Punxsutawney Phil replaced by a robotic critter so I had some funny e-mails on that gem.

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

Put Brass in a sealed container with a cotton ball soaked in Ammonia and you will see rapid aging!!!  Leave it a little too long and you will see brittle brass or just a residue!!  Havent tried it with vinegar......

[TgeorgeZ]

Would HEATING the vinegar solution expedite the rusting process/

[Mad Monk]

Would HEATING the vinegar solution expedite the rusting process/

Yes.

But you do not have to heat it too hot.

An example of this is seen in the old method of making lead acetate.
Pure lead "buckles" were placed in crocks with vinegar.  A stone or block was used to keep the lead buckle above the liquid level in the crock.  A lid then went on the crock.  The crocks were then placed in racks.  Fresh manure was then heaped over the racks.  Bacterial activity in the manure released heat which then heated the crocks.

When I used this method to produce copper acetate I could not use the manure packing.  Neither my wife nor city codes service thought the history lesson would be acceptable.  So I selled for a light bulb in the box.

Bill K.

[Mad Monk]

Put Brass in a sealed container with a cotton ball soaked in Ammonia and you will see rapid aging!!!  Leave it a little too long and you will see brittle brass or just a residue!!  Havent tried it with vinegar......

Ammonia is a caustic and will attack brass by leaching copper from the alloy.  Black powder fouling being rich in potassium carbonate, another caustic, will also leach copper out of brass.

Ammonia will really go after copper.  I saw something in some Australian papers on explosives where the chemical compound produced by the reaction between ammonia and copper had been used in one particular explosive.

Bill K.

[Dphariss]

Put Brass in a sealed container with a cotton ball soaked in Ammonia and you will see rapid aging!!!  Leave it a little too long and you will see brittle brass or just a residue!!  Havent tried it with vinegar......

Ammonia is a caustic and will attack brass by leaching copper from the alloy.  Black powder fouling being rich in potassium carbonate, another caustic, will also leach copper out of brass.

Ammonia will really go after copper.  I saw something in some Australian papers on explosives where the chemical compound produced by the reaction between ammonia and copper had been used in one particular explosive.

Bill K.

Ammonia is the active ingredient is several bore cleaners used to remove copper fouling.
But it cannot be left on the steel for more than a few minutes.

Dan

[steg49]

Several months ago I started a thread on vinegar - steel wool stain lookin for a method to turn a walnut stock dark.  Well I brewed up a batch of vinegar = steel wool and another batch of black walnut hulls as both were recommended.  I have taken pic viewable at http://picasaweb.google.com/steg86/walnutstain
Test was done on black walnut wood, the viinegar-steel wool (dark stain that I'm pointing at) looks almost charcoal black, the lower 2/3 of the second piece of wood is just black walnut hull stain (med. Brown color) the upper 1/3 is both stains together (3 coats of walnut hull and 1 coat of vinegar - steel wool.  Neather of these two stains had any effect on maple.  I will use the three coats on walnut hull followed by one coat of vinegar - steel wool on my stock to ge the dark color I want.  steg49

[hanshi]

Have been "brewing" a batch for 2 yrs now and completely forgot about it, until now. Just got up an checked the color and lo and behold...it's brown! All the previous samplings were of an ugly gray color and that's why it was forgotten. Went out and scoured the neighborhood for old, very  rusty barbed wire after nails and steel wool didn't work at all. Success....but still don't know if it'll be used on a stock seeing there are so many other colorants that are more predictable....Fred

Gray is what I ended up with, too.  I do intend to try again, though.