Another curly handle refinish,........I'm pretty sure it's a blacksmith tool,.,.............if not feel free to move it to an appropriate spot. I couldn't make up my mind which light it looked better in so took pics in a variety of places. The afternoon sun was rough that day.

It is indeed a blacksmith tool.
But NOT a hammer.
It is a top swedge, generally used with a mating bottom swedge that goes in the hardy hole in the anvil.
What looks like a hammer face, and looks like has been used as a hammer face, is actually intended to be struck by another hammer while the tool is held in position.

NICE HANDLE!!

Usually these are a mated pair. The other 1/2 looks just like it, except instead of a handle it has a lug that slips into the hardy hole of an anvil.
Then, you and a helper (or striker) can forge a square bar round on the ends, for wheels or something.

So, I went right over to the website you got your chromic trioxide from......... (another lovely handle btw)
  His price for a tiny bottle of the stuff wasn't totally insulting (the chemical probably cost him 2 bits, but there is the bottle to pay for I guess)
        but his postage price hurt my feelings!!
  He wanted like 6 or 7 dollars shipping for a 3 or 4 ounce item, packed!
First class postage should have been under 2 bucks.

  I have a couple dozen plastic bottles and lids. (and I know where to get more very cheap_)
Where can we order a gallon of this stuff and make sure everyone gets it, reasonable? 
    yours Scott
   

Scott,
            honestly I couldn't tell you. I haven't done any homework on that,.......at least yet. If I get a chance later I look around a bit. If I find anything I would be glad to post.

-Aaron

,.............oh,....and thank you guys for the info. Very educational  :-)))

> 6 or 7 dollars shipping

because it is a hazmat material, it ignites organic liquids on contact, and it is seriously carcogenic (it *is* hexavalent chromium)

Play with it with care if it is the real thing, and not a cubstitute dye.

(turning wood orange and yellow makes me think it is the real thing you are playing with, you may want to read the safety sheets ;P)

yes I had read somewhere recently it was hexavalent chromium or a cousin to it. couldn't remember if it was the exact thing or not. I do use gloves when I use it. No doubt it wouldn't hurt to wear a mask when sanding.

-thanks for the heads-up

Just went and looked at my bottle,........warnings are posted on it,........but that is on pretty much any bottle so for whatever that is worth,

Scott,.......I definitely get your point on expense but I guess I really don't think that much about it. After everything I've used it for (not all of it posted here ) I have over 2/3 of a bottle left. I think it really goes a long way.,,,,,,,,,,and compared to other stains,, seems to be competitive. However, if they use this stuff for high school chemistry or something like that and a supplier can be found I'm sure your right and it can be bought by the lb. for little of nothing.

FYI   :I have an aniline dye ( 8 oz.) that I'm fixing to order that is $43 on amazon. Now yes sir I think that is pretty darn expensive lol.  But I liked the results I seen posted on it and plan to give it a shot. 

8oz of analine dye will pretty much tint South Carolina. Why so much?
And what color?
   yours Scott

If I could find less I would get it but it seems to be hard to find. I'm looking for new things to try and saw this

http://www.finewoodworking.com/item/28612/no-7-shaker-rocker-tiger-maple#


,.and according to info posted in the article this is what was used to stain

http://www.amazon.com/J-E-Mosers-Finishes-Soluble-Aniline/dp/B0086600H8

      bout the only place I've seen it for sale. I have 2 antique curly maple chairs to refinish and I am going to use this  or at least incorporate this into the mix on at least one of them.




The other method I plan to try at some point is called acqua fortis,........you may have heard of or used it as well. From all the reading I've done it seems to be the base stain if not the only stain used by a large number of Kentucky rifle builders today. It's an acid base stain,......some of them guys make their own. I plan on getting mine ready made. It can be found here


http://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/392/1

   I'd save the 40 bucks Aaron. You can see dyed maple galore at any guitar shop. Dyed soft maple veneer is such a fad they are strip mining the western seaboard of it.
  Its only a "weed tree" anyway, (damn things grow 15 feet a year with leaves the size of dinner plates) but they are maiming better forest to get at it.

  Anyway dye is a muddy look.  Nothing like your work.
Try Rit dye from the grocery store for 79 cents, for a trial.
I don't think you'll like it any more than I do.

Nitric acid you can get at any chemical supplier. Any industrial supplier. Probably any large janitorial supplier.    Check the phone book.
The real problem is, the acid itself is dirt cheap. Dirt!  A buck a gallon! (more or less)
But the only way you can get a 1/2 pint is super refined laboratory reagent grade, and the smaller the bottle, the higher the price. I doubt we need reagent grade just to play with maple. I don't even know how good it works.
  We used to clean filter cloths in nitric acid when I worked at the mine, because it is the gentlest in terms of fumes. Had a tub of a couple hundred gallons for this. 
I haven't been up to the mine in years, but I guess I'll ask a friend who still works there.   
 
  Been digging for the chrome this morning.   
  Chrome trioxide is what they use in chrome plating shops. 100million kilos a year is produced, they say!  Someone has to have trainloads of the stuff, and a few spoonfulls??   

  The chrome you used made the best curly maple look I have seen, by far.
      yours Scott

Scott,
             thanks for the input and yes I'll put the aniline dye on hold.
           From what I've read the original rifle builders did use the nitric acid (at least some of them did). I'm sure some of the guys today use it to be traditionalist but it is also pretty impressive when done by the right fellow. It has to be dried with a blow dryer etc,.........not a big deal but didn't want to try it on my first few attempts so I started with the majestic maple. It seemed pretty cut and dry. Anyway, I have several more things to try as I go and will keep posting. You guys can tell me what you think as I move forward. Not sure if the chair will be the next thing done or not but it won't be long. I'll try and find a fitting place to post it on here.

    I did finally get some good pics of another plane I just finished. It's not curly maple but it turned out pretty cool I think. Hopefully get the pics up later tonight.

   Hope you guys are having a great weekend,
-Aaron

You might try out leather dyes also.  Especially with close grained hardwoods, I've found them effective.  I learned about these when I had to do a color match on poplar to make it work with some black walnut.  Poplar doesn't like stains, but the leather dye worked instantly.  I've used it since on quarter sawn oak, among other things, and have found it effective and satisfying.

Branson,
               thanks for the tip. I have a hickory axe handle with really nice figure in it. If I can ever get the double bit that's on it at the present time off then I plan to see what I can do with it. I do know that hickory doesn't take stain well either. Would this be something you would consider the leather dye on ??  The double bit that's hanging on it now appears to be somewhat modern and cheap metal. Sticker is still on the handle,................says "Northern King".


Thanks, Aaron

I haven't tried leather dye on hickory...  Oh, wait, I *have* used it on hickory!  Several times.  Yes, it works on hickory.  I have about an ounce left in an old quart bottle of  Tandy leather dye that I bought, oh, 25 years ago.  The color I have was called "chocolate."  It worked instantly to give a rich, dark chocolate brown color to several tool handles that I didn't want to look brand new.

You might want to check some out on a scrap of figured hickory to see how it deals with the figure.  You can also dilute the color by thinning it with alcohol (in a rash moment, I once used vodka -- it worked fine).  Probably Everclear would work best. 

As I recall, Tandy has a number of colors to choose from, and in small bottles.

Last year I had to reproduce the shellac finish on an old spinning wheel for which I had made new parts.  It should have been button lac, but I couldn't get the flakes to dissolve.  I added a couple of drops of the dye to orange shellac and got a perfect match.  Useful stuff.

Hickory takes homemade ink like gangbusters, if you ever want a super deep colored one.
Never tried it to enhance figure, and I don't think I would. But its a rich look for plain hickory.

  Iron oxide and tannic acid.
Mix the tannic with water to a watery consistency.
Soak some iron and steel scrap in vinegar or other weak acid for a week or two. Its bubbly, nasty, red, rusty, delight!

  Bathe the article in the mixtures, one after the other. Doesn't matter which you do first, which is good, because I don't even remember which you are supposed to do first. But it takes a couple coats of each anyway. 
  Wear rubber gloves! It stains your hands as easy as it does wood, and it takes days and days to wear off (don't ask).     

This is one of the old recipes for ink. It will stain practically anything nearly black.
Not totally black more like rich ebony, super dark brown.
  It doesn't look too bad at all, under a coat of shellac.
    yours Scott