Was talking to a friend a few days ago, he said I should test it on some scrap. So I put some of the birch edging on some scrap plywood from the project I'm working on (cut from the same board). I told him I've never stained before, but I've seen videos etc, and I got wood conditioner. He was telling me about the follys of leaving streaks, and things like that. Especially on big pieces, so I would have to work fast with applying and wiping. So I decided to use a rag for staining the scrap to see how it would look. It's sitting shiny right now, but it looks good! I think I do need to sand the pieces a little bit more from the looks of this test. He said that the stain and poly both would raise some parts of the grain and not others, but not to worry about it. He said to buff it with some 220 after the first coat, and the second coat of poly should be good. He did say hes has to put 3 coats on before. So we'll see how it goes. I'm looking forward to it. I'll post a pic when the stain dries.