On 14 Mar, 14:31, Jay Pique wrote:

Anyone have any ideas on how to dye and/or stain hard maple to look like walnut?

That sounds hard. Fortunately it's not your precise problem: your
task is to make it look like your client's idea of "walnut" and also
to match the counters they already have. Provided you aren't making
cabinets for Bruce Hoadley, that should be a lot easier.

I'd equip myself with a bunch of offcuts from your same maple boards,
a range of "walnut stains" from my local suppliers and set to making
some reasonably sized sample boards, with the full finishing treatment
on them. Then present them to the client and let them choose.

You should be able to hit close enough. Certainly close enough for
jazz, and your client,

You've not imposed any of your choices on the client, you let them
pick it. So that if next week they want it painted purple, you're
still off the hook (ie rework is billable).