Richard,
Welcome.  I use 2 % Sirrus Red in saturated picric acid for a stain all
the time.  It does stain collagen and calcified tissue.  Stain the
tissue for 20 min. and then rinse in dh20 several changes and then let
the slides sit in clean dh20 until the yellow background (from the
picric acid) is clear 10 min. or so.  Air dry the slides and coverslip
or dehydrate in alcohols and clear in xylene and permount.
Patsy Ruegg