Using oil stain, which wood types darkens better?

[Cesar Vega]

I have a project for which the finish has to be a very dark color, ebony, "expresso" sort of, but still have to show some grain, so it looks its real wood.
I picked up Minwax Oil Based Ebony Stain, which I have used on Pine with great results, as it seems the darker stain available.

For this project I was supposed to use a hardwood called Okume which in my tests seems its not darkening enough at all... let's say it darkens like the 40% of the dark Pine could get. I made some samples and that was the result.

I have not get the wood yet, so, I could change to a type of wood that get a nice dark color.
From my local wood suppliers, besides Pine and Okume, I can get Banack, Sande, Maple, Oak Red, Birch, Poplar, Cedrillo (Sande).
In your experience, which of these woods could get me a rich nice dark tone?

[scott spencer]

Why not start out with a darker wood in the first place? Black walnut is fairly dark to start with and should get very dark with stain.

[Joe Chritz]

Search here or google for ebonizing maple. More results than you can shake a stick at.

From vinegar/steel wool, to india ink to metal acid dyes.

Starting with walnut and using a dye is a really good way to get very dark that lasts. I haven't done any ebonizing of maple but have seen some pretty good results in pictures.

Joe

[Cesar Vega]

Thanks you, guys for your answers.

I've already searched for that term "ebonizing maple" and yes, there's a lot of ways to do it, most of them are so weird !! lol

So, I'll try some samples and see what fits best for this project.

Thank you!

[Mark A Johnson]

Another wood that is dark brown that might work is Peruvian Walnut. I use it quite often in making boxes.