Yeah, this is really common. I think every woodworker goes through
this. Oils stains are just exactly like you state. You can get closer
to the store colors by not wiping off so cleanly and leaving a build
of color to dry. I'm sure that is what they do but it is not so
practicle or easy to achieve on a real project.

A few ideas.

1. Learn how to use Dyes. A very very different process but much more
predictable once you learn the tricks.
2. Try some water based stains. I find the General Finishes water
based stains to have a whole lot of grit and good color lay down. But
using water based requures the extra step of raising the grain.
3. Gel stains are oil stains that have some jellified nature and poly
included. These can be much more easily used as a coating where you
can leave a film to get the deep color you want.

One approach I use on oak (and others) is a standard oil stain on the
raw wood or tung oiled, then stained. Then I put down a thin coat of
shellac. Then I use a darker gel stain to fill the grain with nice
dark lines but not filled so they are flat. You can work the gel stain
with a real saturated rag and leave behind a film as dark as you like.
I actually use it to antique the look and leave lots more in the
corners. The gel stain has poly in it so it will dry and stay on the
surface better than doing the same leave behind with standard oil
stain.

You can then lacquer over or poly over or shellac over or wax over or
my fav lacquer then wax over or just leave it. I also sometimes use
black wax for even more antiquing sometimes.

On Mar 5, 10:00*am, blueman wrote:
Despite multiple coats and letting the stain sink in as long as (or even
sometimes longer than) recommended on the can, my stain never seems to
get nearly as dark as shown on the can or as shown in the store samples.

- I have found this both with multiple different Minwax oil stains and
* *with Rockler gel stains. The stain never gets nearly as dark, dense,
* *rich as shonw in the samples.

- For me this is true both for pine and (red) oak -- which are the types
* of wood shown for example in the Minwax samples.

- It happens both on unsanded S4S wood and on wood sanded to 200 grit

- Also it happens whether or not I use a pre-stain wood conditioner.

- Finally it happens even with multiple coates (4+), even when using
* very generous applications, even when kept on longer than recommended,
* and even if I don't wipe it off aggresively at the end.

The only areas that stain as dark as (or darker than) the samples are
end grain.

What could I possibly be doing wrong?