Sorry, I was saying "stain" in the sense of what it would do ... not as in a wood stain like I would use on my flooring. I have to use that lacquery crap enough on the home remodeling projects and avoid it for anything else ... but I definitely see why you thought that was what I was saying. My bad for getting loose with terminology.
Thinking of mixing a custom stain but will be experimenting on another piece of wood (or on a small that I'm about to hacksaw off of the CIY block) before applying to the CIY. I may just go with the oil though. What I really want is to darken the darkest parts but keep the lighter reddish color intact, which is probably just not going to work out ... and that's fine ... this briar was reaaaallly nice and red when wet.
Thinking of mixing a custom stain but will be experimenting on another piece of wood (or on a small that I'm about to hacksaw off of the CIY block) before applying to the CIY. I may just go with the oil though. What I really want is to darken the darkest parts but keep the lighter reddish color intact, which is probably just not going to work out ... and that's fine ... this briar was reaaaallly nice and red when wet.

