Apple cider vinegar, thats interesting. Its funny just how many things will actually work for this.

Did you know that all you need to do to turn browning into blueing is to boil it? I actually tried this with some plumb brown and voila! Black oxidation..

I also worked with Mark Lee express blue but I think I may have got an old bottle or something, it was extremly weak.

One thing I did with some fairly decent results was to initiate the oxidation with plumb brown, (very agressive soloution) and then work at it with the Mark Lee to achive a finer finish. This worked to a certian degree but the overall results were not uniform. I think that may have partially been because I didnt apply the plumb brown properly.

One bit of info that I gleened from the book is to apply the soloution from a more or less rung out rag so as to make the application more even. That makes a lot of sense to me. I also think that I need to find a happy medium between too agressive a soloution and too weak.

On one of the older threads on the subject it was said that a slower soloution will produce finer results. That also seems sensible. Ill continue to dabble with plumb brown (nitric acid, sodium nitrate and potassium chlorate) and to that Im adding salammoniac, copper sulfate, alcohol and distilled water in various degrees of mixtures. None of these things are as hazardous to work with as some of the other ingredients mentioned in the book like the mercuric cloride and aqua regia and are quite regularly employed.

My results with the Mark Lee may have also been contributed to less than perfect metal preperation, Im also trying different things to improve on that like the use of phosphoric acid, ammonia, Boric acid, grain alcohol and so on. I also need a better water source, there is an artesian well nearby that I may give a go.

Fun stuff..

The vinegar worked nice. I had an improvised vapor chamber of cardboard box, 25 watt light bulb in a large coffee can and a bowl of water on top. I carded and recoated once a day for about 10 days.

Main trouble I had was what to card with. You got any good solutions to that?

I'm minded to get started again. Have a couple of projects underway that are gonna need a finish.