Hi Mike,
Conditioners have little to do with the hardness of the wood or the type
of stain. They are suppose to partially fill those super adsorbent areas on
the surface so that the stain that follows goes on more evenly. Cheers. JG

Mike Reed wrote:

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