I was studying up on the finishing process for Kentucky, Penn, and other long rifles, and a process that many of the rifle builders use to finish the wood and make the grain pop, is using Ferric Nitrate. It's used on guns, why not other projects too?

 

 

Jim Kibler is a well known builder and he uses Tanic Acid. You can see how ae figure of his burl maple fowler using iron nitrate...

 

Staining and Finishing Burl Maple

WWW.JIMKIBLER.NET

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Jim Kibler shows how he was able to get dramatic results that highlight the figure of his burl maple fowler using iron nitrate and tannic acid

 

There are a handful of chemicals that you can use for staining various woods (some only work on certain woods with the right chemistry) -- lye, potassium permanganate, potassium dichromate,  ammonia, ferrous sulfate, etc.  Generally these are acids and alkalis.   

There are several caveats:

- Many are toxic and you may need to avoid skin contact, vapors, sanding dust (removing raised grain) and splashes into the eyes.

- You may need to neutralize before finishing.

- Some only work on specific woods.  One example is staining background wood but does not affect holly (so it's often uses as inlay or stringing)

- The concentrations may need to vary, so testing on the actual wood is needed to adjust concentrations.
- It's a "ready, fire, aim" approach.   Once you start the process, it's difficult or impossible to "steer" it unlike pigment stains where you can wipe dirty or wipe clean, add more or adjust using other colors during the finishing process.
- It may vary on different pieces of wood even from the same species -- if you are using the same wood from different trees, different growing locations, or sap- vs. heart-wood you can get radically different results (and since you can't adjust,you're stuck).  For a gun stock, you have one piece of wood, so this may not be as much an issue there.

 

 

But, if it works, it's fine.   Just a few things to consider.