Can anyone offer suggestions for a painless-as-could-be-expected way
of staining birch plywood a deep, intense red color? Something almost
cartoony red or maroon, as opposed to the reddish-brown colors one
would expect from wood. Sample color: http://rurl.org/28hx

I've checked out samples of the Minwax products. The water-based ones
seemed more "colorful", but none of the reds seemed deep enough - and
all were orangey reds, rather than blueish reds, which I'd prefer.
The closest thing I saw was the Polyshades Bombay Mahogany... But
I've seen mixed reviews of that product, and it seemed like it would
completely hide the grain when used dark enough.

I'm an amateur, so grinding my own dyes with a mortar and pestle or
similarly complex solutions may be beyond the scope of the current
project.

As an aside - I'm living in New York City, and have pretty limited
access to retailers of stuff like this. Any general suggestions for
good woodworking supply shops in the NYC area would be most welcome.
I went to Home Depot today, and almost had a brain aneurysm, their
selection was so bad.