Not to hijack...but, Taylor, you've built over 100 guns more than me....
This is my 1 and only this far...
It has actually darkened some especially on the rubbed back areas.
I never finished a maple stock. It was recommended here that if I wanted to pop the curl and figure to scrape and use tannic acid and an acid finish.
I scraped it (never scraped a piece of wood before....). Whiskered a couple times and scraped lightly between whiskering. Then Jim's tannic acid..I didn't use a lot. Wet the stock but wasn't WET. Then used Jim's iron nitrate.
After blushing, I used blue or maybe green scotch Brite and Chambers oil to rub it out..it didn't need hardly anything. My "wear areas" actually started as an accident where I rubbed a little too hard...so I went with it... basically used the scotch Brite to smooth out the "crusty" dry after blushing.
Finish was Chambers oil.
First coat was soaked on heavy directly after rubbing it out... Every couple minutes I'd rub it in and add more. Once it seemed to stop taking oil I wiped it down with a nice even light coat. After that, I finished with light coats and rubbed it out with rottenstone after a couple days of drying. There's only a few coats on it...but that first coat was nearly enough.
I burnished with a deer antler tine at one point...I think it was after the first oil coat. Not sure it did anything.
Only sharing because the color is somewhat comparable to yours. I love the finish...The gun is an accurate bugger and has taken 2 good bucks both years I've carried it. The build was an "accident". Lol. Didn't intend to build a rifle..intended to screw furniture onto a stock that I thought was a replacement...it was less refined than any precarve I've seen since lol.
My next I think I will hit a little more with tannic acid...