[CarverRog]

This is my first real attempt at relief carving and it went pretty good. The staining was a different animal. I sealed the entire surface with Deft lacquer the used a gel stain but I quickly found that all the cut areas took darker so I used lacquer thinner and wiped those areas down.

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

It looks good and your lettering is great...next time try sealing with min-wax pre-stain sealer.....works good! then when finished use the Deft. imho

[BrandantR]

Open endgrain will always take stain darker than other areas. Hi Ho is right, just use a pre-stain sealer first and it should help a lot. But frankly, on this carving, I wouldn't change a thing. It looks wonderful just the way it is.

[Irishman]

That's a very nice relief, and you must have a steady hand to get those letters to look so good.
Patrick