That was about a two month long process of staining and then removing some or most of the stain by sanding...because I wasn't happy with the color...and then repeating the process again with different stain or dye and hoping for better results. I'm finally happy with the outcome.
I was originally hoping for grey or black but that doesn't seem possible with the Becker Micarta Scales. Light brown to dark brown is about the best that you can hope for...at least in my experience.
Here's what I did..
1. Black Rit Dye
2. Sand
3. Black Shoe Polish
4. Sand
5. Cherry wood stain
6. Sand
7. Black Mahagony wood stain
8. Sand
9. Another attempt with Black Rit Dye.
10. Black permanent marker.
11. A very light wet sand.
12. More black Rit dye.
DONE!!! So just repeat that process for the same results!! Lol.