staining maple - help! blotchy!

[Texas Rhino]

I am building a home office and am using maple for the face frames/doors/cabinets etc. I just finished the case work and put on the face frames and stained them and they turned out horrible! I used a 50/50 blend of Minwax Gunstock and Red Oak stains. The colors mix well and is what I am looking for. I used some Minwax pre stain conditioner as I suspected that I might have problems (using soft maple).

The finish is completely uneven and looks really bad.

I read some internet searches and there are a lot of opinions out there. I have heard use gel stain, as well as shellac before staining, as well as dye stains.

I am leaning towards re-sanding and then using a dye stain.

What are your thoughts?

Thanks!

Sean

[dvelleux]

Sean,

Resand everything to raw wood with 100 grit, then sand agian with 220 grit, THEN back down to 150 grit. Reapply conditioner, then stain. That should work...