hi oddbod,many thanks for your reply,the darkness i'm after is similer to the rest of my living room furniture which is mango wood so its pretty dark so i'll try a coloured varnish thanks.
can somebody please help,i am hoping to stain or varnish an mdf fire surround to make it darker,do i use stain or varnish? plus which brands are solvent based and not water based???.the current colour is medium oak and i want to make it dark oak.