suggestion!

[yip]

i finished sanding my Kibler mountain rifle and want to make it a dark stain, any suggestions? might try aqua fortis

[HighUintas]

On some test pieces I did on maple, I used a fairly concentrated solution of gilsonite dissolved in turp first, then straight LMF maple on top without any rubbing out. Put sealer on without scrubbing (just paint on with brush or something and not scotchbrite). That seemed to make it pretty dark and looked nice.

[JLayne]

I used Kibler’s Iron Nitrate in combination with his tannic acid on this one. It came out very dark.

Jay

[L. Akers]

Dangler's dark brown stain rubbed back til grain is apparent.  Leave as is or top with LMF maple stain to resemble aqua fortis.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

If you apply tannic acid to the wood, let it dry, then apply Ferric Nitrate, the wood will turn black.  The curl doesn't show through well though, unless you burnish/sand off the black.  The black remains in the end grain of the curl whereas the wood between the curls will become lighter.  A heat gun will turn the FN red/brown.  That is how I stained the rifle I just posted.

[TDM]

If you have a maple stock, 2 or 3 coats of iron nitrate, dried and heat cured between each coat will give you a very dark finish.