Maple's a real witch to stain to start with. Sanding with 220 is probably
sealing up the pores. Try sanding a scrap piece with 150 then staining that
to see if it's any better. If swirl marks show up then final sand by hand,
going with the grain only. Will probably take some 'spearmintin to get the
desired results. I avoid staining maple myself altogether but I know you're
trying to match existing furniture. Good luck.

Will


"Mike Reed" wrote in message
oups.com...
Ok, so taking both pieces of advice, if I use one of those conditioners
(to seal it), plus mixing the two colors, then I should get better
results?

Strange that it would be necessary to condition with soft maple,
because it's still quite hard. I guess it has to do more with the grain
structure than actual wood hardness?

Also, I thought the conditioners only mattered with water-based stains.
Is this incorrect?

Does my sanding and cleanup process see about right?

Thanks for the responses!

leonard wrote:
Hi
with soft maple you need to seal it before staining the it will stain
evenly.


Len