Propane in lieu of stain?

Yes. It leaves quite an interesting look, if done correctly. Don't start a fire, though! :) I covered the results in epoxy and after 30 years it's still looks great. I took a rectangular piece of plywood, cut a roughly 45 degree bevel all around the edge, and then hacked up the edge randomly. Then I took a torch to it. It might sound weird, but it made an attractive backdrop for a large picture that I glue to the ply and then covered the whole thing in epoxy.

Dave

Every damned school woodwork class tries it. Hideous effect, it always ends up looking the same.

Hideous if over done, perhaps. done properly, it looks not even remotely "hideous" as you've declared.

Dave

About 20 years ago we took it one step past common sence. we were making hatch doors into coffee tables. We would normally burn the doors with a propane torch and wire brush the soft grain out. epoxy the whole thing and you had a great looking table. Being young and stupid, a bad combination, we didnt think that the torch was fast enough so we took 4 of the doors out to the back yard, lightly covered them with gasoline and set them on fire. Boy was that fast. after a visit by the fire department, a neighbor called it in, we were lucky not to be arrested. Now I only use stain.

Have your eyebrows grown back yet? *g* Mac

Talk about a burning desire for woodworking!