"professorpaul" wrote:

Just a VERY dark mahogony stain, if I recall correctly. I had a piano
bench that I refinised some years ago. Had a terrible time getting it
dark enough. Must have put on three or four doses of stain, and it
still wasn't quite right.

I've had bad luck with dramatic darkening with stain. I'd recommend
dye and tint, both using Transtint, black and red mixed. First dye
with the transtint in alcohol, to darken to close to dark enough and
close to the right red/black mix. Then start padding on shellac with
transtint to sneak up on the right color. Finish with clear coats of
shellac or other film type finish.

If you're going for a no-film finish, I'd guess you need to get to the
right color with the dye with no binder, since I'd suspect that tinted
oil wouldn't add much color (BUT THAT IS JUST A GUESS, NOT BASED ON
EXPERIENCE).
--
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