Actually, this question is more generic than just curly maple, but that
happens to be the wood I'm using for this project.

Okay, I had some cherry. We sanded it nicely, cleaned it up, then put
wood conditioner on it before staining it. (Yes ... I know ... some
people would ask WHY stain cherry?). We could see the conditioner being
absorbed better in some spots than others.

Upon staining it, it was very splotchy. Extremely so. We attributed
the splotchy look to the uneven absorption of the wood conditioner. That
assumption may or may not have any relevance to the real cause.

So I had some nice curly maple on hand, and started to redo the project
using that. It's been sanded down very nicely, 60 grit, 90 grit, 120
grit, 150 grit, then 180 grit. It's a smooth as glass right now.

We just put wood conditioner on it, and again we can see an uneven
absorption.

So ... what's the best approach to getting a nice even stain on curly
maple? Is there any particular stain that applies better than the
others? We're open to using pretty much anything as long as it looks
nice and warm. Could be transluscent, solid, or even just a nice toning
of some sort.

Any suggestions?

Jack