Made a move. I decided that if I want a dark brown walnut colored stand, then I would make a stand using dark walnut or other rosewood or ebony type wood. In this case, if I’m going to go through the trouble of changing the woods color, I’d go with something a bit more bold.
@penumbra @LanceMac10 this may not be exactly what you were envisioning, but you may appreciate the finish none the less.
I used a two part gel stain process. A deep red then a dark brown to darken the red a bit and add character to the grain of the hickory. I was initially worried that the poly may mess with the gel stain so I did a sample first.
if I were to do this finish again I’d do things a bit different as I had a few technical difficulties I dealt with and a few things didn’t come out exactly as planned. But overall I’m happy with the look. I’m going to post this on Bonsai Auctions tomorrow evening.
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