Thread: NGR - to stain or not to stain...

I've got some newly made raw New Guinea Rosewood kitchen cabinet doors I am planning to finish.

Originally, I was thinking of simply applying a shellac+metho sanding sealer and then top coating with a clear satin oil-vased poly (Cabot's CFO Floor poly.)

The shellac flakes I bought for the job are Feast Watson "Mastertouch" Shellac Premium Grade. The flakes are a golden brown colour, and instructions say that a FW product called "prooftint" can optionally be added to the shellac mixture.

The NGR doors are quite light as unfinished timber, and the colour ranges from light brown to a yellowish, almost piney hue on a couple of doors.

What I was wondering about was whether I should be considering applying a light stain to the doors before (or even with) the shellac sanding sealer to possibly enhance the grain visually, and even out the colour a bit between the doors? I understand applying just the clear poly by itself will darken the timber considerably, but was wondering if anyone had thoughts on using a light stain as well.

As I say, the aim is not so much to darken (although some darkening would inevitably occur, of course), but rather to enhance the grain pattern under the poly and perhaps to even up the colour a bit.

Thanks for any thoughts/ideas.