Originally Posted by flounder33

As a full time cabinetmaker, I would like to add that an alchohol stain's main positive attribute is its clarity. Some of the other stains cloud the look of the wood while they color it. As far as controling color, alchohol based stains can be a bugger to use on large surfaces, like a desk top, but on small items like a gunstock the fast drying is not a problem. Sometimes an alchohol based stain can raise the grain of the wood so a light sanding might be necessary before topcoating.

Originally Posted by MountainDevil54

alcohol stains penetrate the wood and are easier to control the color depth VS oil stains. All our local stores carry nothing but oil stain so BC or something else online has to be ordered when ever i restore a stock. So basically if you can find an Alcohol based stain, that will do the job.