Hey guys,
Great board you have here.
So here's my issue, (and my apologies if this has come up before as my search didn't yield anything).
I've build some cabinet doors from what appears to be some very tight maple and I can't get the wood to take the stain. It's a very dark color stain and I'm trying to match some custom cabinets that I had made.
The stain is a gel oil based stain from WoodKote. Multiple coats help, but in many cases the next coat seems to remove the previous.
I've tried resanding the wood, heating the wood, using water before the stain and I even tried a water based stain as well (the gel ended up working better).
Even if I soak the wood in the stain it won't take it.
My next move was to perhaps try a wood dye and I was considering a deck cleaner/prep product as this was the only product that I could find that speaks of opening the pores.
Do you guys have any tips or tricks for dealing with getting the wood to open up, and/or getting a dark even color without the lose of the grain?
Thanks!
Dave