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.

For the oak, try Watco Danish Oil, dark walnut. It will definitely
stain your oak dark. I built a kitchen out of white oak a long time ago
and
I was having a hard time getting it dark. Never had much of a problem
with pine however, and I really didn't like the Watco on pine. Really
good on Oak, both red and white.

--
Jack
"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong
enough to take everything you have".
-- Thomas Jefferson
http://jbstein.com