I think it turned out quite nicely. Generally mahogany takes stain really well, but where it gets really thin on your scarfs, you are correct, it won't take as well because a lot of what is there is epoxy.

It looks like overall the stain went on fairly evenly. On the next project, to even out the wood so that the scarfs don't stand out like that and to even out the color, do a wash coat with 10-15% regular Elmer's white school glue mixed with water (whatever amount makes it 100%). Apply that to the entire kayak- all of the wood. It will swell things up a little bit and raise the grain, but it will also fill the pores just enough that the dye will absorb more evenly. You can knock it down with scotch-brite or something after it dries. Some woods absolutely will not take stain without getting blotchy- like maple, pine, and sometimes cherry. Depending on the species of mahogany or more accurately- luan- your plywood is made of it may also take it really unevenly. In my experience as a professional cabinetmaker, with face veneers getting thinner and thinner, glue bleed-through is sometimes an issue with plywood, so every time that we used CC plywood with a veneer face we used a wash, and if it looked like the outer veneer was thin we used a wash. Especially with the thinner veneer- if you don't do a wash and you get problems because of the glue bleed through there's nothing you can do about it because it's too thin to sand. It's never a bad thing if you're doing a dark colored stain.

Thing two-- even on small projects to be sure I get an even color I put on 3-4 coats of dye about 10 minutes apart, while the surface is at least moist- but the wetter the better. I usually mix the dye a little thin so I can work up to the right color, but you don't have to. Depends how red you want it to be... If you put it on while the previous coat is still a bit wet it evens out a lot.

Then let it dry a long time. I mix my dye with alcohol almost all of the time so that they dry quicker because I"m not always too patient, but even with alcohol I let them dry a good long time before I move on.

You can experiment on a test panel to reassure yourself it will work, or you can do it on an interior panel. You may need to adjust the amount of glue in your wash so that it even out the epoxied stuff at the scarf.

m