Famous for revealing figure in curly maple, our Aquafortis Reagent is easy to apply.
Practice your staining and blushing technique on a small sample of maple, before you stain your longrifle stock. You can control the color and contrast by using more or less reagent, more or less heat. After you master this technique, you may wish to experiment with an equal amount of Aquafortis reagent added to an equal amount of water (50% dilution), which may require more applications and longer heating to achieve a more mellow effect.
If you stain and blush the stock very dark, then rub it back with finish soaked steel wool, you can create a dramatic high contrast in some figured maple. However, if your goal is to display as much figure as possible, try to avoid creating too much contrast, which can spoil the effect.
First, raise the grain, by wetting the wood surface with water, and force it dry with heat. Use 0000 fine steel wool to remove "whiskers" from the wood surface. Repeat once or twice. If you do not raise the grain, compressed wood fibers will eventually raise under your finish, causing a textured surface.
Apply Aquafortis Reagent in the same manner, and "blush" the surface to the desired color, by holding the surface over a hot surface (electric stove burner or other radiant heat source). Avoid using a concentrated torch flame, which might char the wood.
Move the stock quickly over the heat source, to blush the reagent, revealing the variations in the density of the cell structure of the figured wood. If the wood displays an olive tone at first, continue blushing the wood until the rich yellow gold browns appear. Some maple may display attractive reddish brown undertones, or this effect can be added using a very dilute overcoat of cherry stain, to create a subtle shift in color, while using Aquafortis to best display all figure.
Packaged only in 2 ounce brown bottles, keep a fresh supply on hand. Each bottle will probably stain two or three longrifles.
Read label precautions for handling instructions.
This fine Rupp longrifle by Michael Hayes of Park Rapids, Minnesota was stained with our Aquafortis and displays attractive coloration that can be achieved in figured maple.