This stuff is freakin amazing! Pardon my excitement; I'm just blown away after seeing it work!
So here's how it went: After spending hours upon hours reading up on the subject here, I got my vinegar & steel wool & started. I brewed mine for 4-5 weeks before the steel was completely dissolved & I was happy with the appearance. Here's what I learned: 2 factors that would have sped up the process are fineness of the steel wool & letting the stuff breath. For the first 2 weeks there was almost no change in appearance, even with agitating every 2 days. I brewed in a 5 gal. bucket & noticed a large amount of condensation every time I lifted the lid to agitate. So, instead of leaving the lid partially closed, I tried just resting it gently on top of the bucket, allowing it to breathe better. Once I did this, the process advanced dramatically. Well, this morning I finally filtered it & gave it a shot. Man, does this stuff work! Black as black can be!
I do still have one concern & it's about the rinsing. I tooled my leather first, & the impressions seem to have held up well. Just wondering if it may be a better practice to tool after the process or if that would even work as the vinegaroon seems to have repelled the water.