[targa911S]

I agree. I did it once with cherry and because birch is such crap wood and very porous on the end grain those area sucked it in too much and it was blotchy. I stripped it again and thought I might try a lighter stain to avoid the dark spots. Still got some as you can see, but not as bad. It just looks like patina. The Mannlicher project will be clear quilted maple and I will use strong tea to stain it just a little bit to bring out the quilting.