You can. Most won't get this red without the dye. Poly-based stains, like Minwax, give a good gloss, but can melt when the handguards get smokin hot. I've seen it happen.

I used red mahoganny Watco Danish oil and wet sanded. Inbetween the 1st and 2nd coats, I wanted it more red, so I used red food coloring, sanded, added several more layers of the Danish oil over a few days. No gloss, but I didn't want shine. The Danish oil seals the wood completely. Be careful though, the used rags can spontaneously combust if not allowed to air or if placed in a closed trash can, etc.

Do you really have to soak the wood for 24 hours in acetone? I have had my pieces in for 12 hours now in the acetone bath and the acetone is brown as can be and the pieces look very well stripped. I am just wondering if anyone can give any info on this.

Well I just pulled all the pieces out of a 12 hour bath, and they were just as white (stripped) as video's I watched. It is in bleach bath now, but Acetone is a heavy duty chemical like stripper...I couldn't imagine it taking 24 hours to do its full effect.

This is just a couple of hours in bleach, and I haven't sanded it yet. The stock on the left came unfinished the one on the right was finished.....just wondering if anyone actually tried different times/technique. I mean this was about 12 hours of acetone and 3 of bleach maybe, I will do a good sand and clean once it dries and start the minwax and just update page, if it cuts out a whole day an half from the process and yields same result no reason not to update the formula.

Just making a video to show progress as I go.......adding on to the video as I go.

delete updating other post.

I just used Cabot "Red Oak" stain and it came out nice. very red but you can still see the grain in the wood.

Me too, combined with Danish oil. Turned out just like I wanted.

The redder the better.

My method is:

Use gas to remove cosmo
Wood stripper to remove any trace of oils
Wash with water
Wood bleach
Sand lightly
Than RED food coloring ....... cheap, works GREAT, and cleans up with water. Let this dry than wipe off excess with a damp rag.
Sand  and start using Min Wax poly , sand lightly between coats then

0000 steel wool, wipe clean with alcohol damp rag before new coat
of poly.

The more coats the deeper the  3D affect.