I've used spirit stain, from nils at csusa. My best results have been from brushing it on, just prior to final sanding. I do 400, 600, 1,200 grit sandpaper, then stain and hit it with the sandpaper again, before finishing it off with MM. I only use 4 or 5 steps (to 12,000). It came out good, but I hadn't soaked it well enough and stopped a bit shy on the sanding. By that, I mean that I didn't sand as long as I normally would. On the clip end, I probably hit it with the 400 too long. I should have skipped it and gone right to 600.
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I'm having my curly maple professionally dyed and stabilized right now, as my own experiments didn't work out very well, with the dyeing of maple blanks.
Rob