use expensive exterior stain that is easy to get from a paint or hardware store. mix with raven oil or any other good quality leather dyes and just top up with whatever pre made ink your using at the time. ie grog, dnero, artline or anything.
mess around with the amounts of each untill you find what best works for you.
i personally dont believe in all these complicated recipes, mainly because of the fact that you end up mixing such a small amount of each product, it will make pretty much no difference to the "staining" effect what so ever.
i think the main trick is to use good quality ingredients, not just the woodstains that come in those little bottles and are easy to rack for example. use the stains that are garunteed to last for at least a few years.
as a painter and decorator, ive have learnt that if a tagg is going to be buffed, it will be buffed. a coat of stain sealer over any ink will allow it to be painted over with one coat of regular house paint. but yeh thats just a simple recipe that ive found to be quite effective over the years.
