How to Achieve a Dark Uniform Stain Color on Maple

FROM GF UNIVERSITY: HOW TO ACHIEVE A DARK, EVEN STAIN COLOR ON MAPLE. Please SHARE with your painting friends.
Maple is a notoriously difficult wood to stain, as it tends to absorb stain unevenly, especially with dark colors. Christine Adams pits GF's darkest water-based stain (Espresso) in a test against GF's darkest oil-based liquid stain (Spiced Walnut).

This video tutorial shows how General Finishes Water Based Stain meets the challenge of uniform and dark color absorption on difficult-to-stain wood species such as pine, cherry, birch and maple WITHOUT the need for a pre-stain conditioner.

Why do water-based stains outperform oil-based liquid stains on hard to stain woods? Two reasons:

1. GF Water-based stains are topical and stay on the surface more, so they don't penetrate the wood to highlight differences in surface composition.
2. GF Water-based stains are thicker and can hold more colorant than our thinner liquid oil-based stains.

Gel Stain is another option that can be used for even color distribution and dark, rich hues. So you have a choice between oil-based and water-based stains!