Howdy,

Built my kitchen cabinets and island out of Cherry plywood, with solid
cherry face frames.

1. I wiped on a thinned layer of clear shellac to all surfaces (the
cherry plywood and solid cherry face frames) Allowed shellac coat to
dry for an hour, then lightly sanded.

2. Next, I applied Minwix Gel Stain to all surfaces as indicated in
the can. Wiped off the excess within 3 minutes.

3. Allowed stain to dry for 24 hours, scuff sanded, then sprayed
several coats of polyurethane. Allow each coat to dry and scuff sand.
Last coat obviously gets no sanding.

The results were exceptional. No blotchiness whatsoever. The shellac
controls overpentration of the gel stain, which in itself does not
penetrate very far.

Hope this helps. Good Luck.
-Albert