This is related to the post I just put up on hide glue but I thought I should keep them separate. I just ordered the J.E. Moser "Fumed Oak" alcohol based aniline dye to stain the Stickley Bros rocker I just put together. Has anyone used this product? It was enthusiastically recommended to me by my "local" arts and crafts dealer. It isn't the same as fuming, obviously, but the results he got were great. Is it period? Was it used instead of fuming at times? Any recommendations on its use?

Water and alcohol based stains were the common stains of the day, so yes they are considered authentic to the period. Gus Stickley's boys would stain a piece after it was fumed, in an attempt to even out the colour and/or hit spots that refused to fume properly.

I've used it with alcohol to get a quick drying time and I've used it to custom tint shellac. In theory aniline stains bleach out over time but then the piece is naturally darkening up over time as well.