"GarageWoodworks" wrote in message
...
On Mar 5, 4:40 pm, Puckdropper puckdropper(at)yahoo(dot)com wrote:
blueman wrote :

*snip*

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

What could I possibly be doing wrong?

How old are the store samples? Most woods naturally change over time,
often darkening as they get older.

And at the same time, stain has a tendency to fade over time. Hmmmm.

I have not noticed that unless of course the piece is subject to fading due
to lighting conditions. I have been using a particular stain for 20 years
and it continues to match pieces done 20 years ago. In 1995 I built an
entertainment system for a customer and in 2007 had to modify it and add
drawers, the customer mentioned that it all looked like it was built at the
same time.