I got an Ikea Beech wood butcher block to use for a desk top. I wanted to stain it slightly darker. Did test patches on the underside: I sanded the wood with 100 and 250, used Minwax wood conditioner and Minwax Early American stain. The result was that the stain coloured the grain very dark...

I'm looking for advice on attaching a 4-inch maple backsplash to a butcherblock counter I recently finished. I drilled pocket holes in the back of the backsplash and originally thought I'd just screw it to the countertop. But if anyone has any experience with this and believes adhesive is the...