Hey everyone, hope someone here can offer some advice. I have a GCI that is in the process of getting new felt and cushions, I decided to sand all the paint off of it and stain the rail blinds, ball box, and a portion of the legs. The blinds are Maple and the ball box and outer parts of legs are Poplar. The problem I am having is getting the Maple rail blinds to stain dark enough as the tops of the rails. I have seen pictures of people that stained their Is and IIs and they look good so I am sure it can be done, I am just having a hard time getting stain to soak in. I have tried 180 grit final sanding then even 80 grit, that does not help. I tried pre-conditioner under the stain that is supposed to prevent boltches and dark spots but it hardly changes color at all then. I have tried dark stains, gel included, not the dark walnut yet but that is pretty much my last option. If I cant find something to work soon I will just end up painting it again, I hope someone can offer some insight on this problem, thank you.