Bringing out the grain in a wood stock

[NVShooter]

Aniline. Yes - I've done that with Curly Maple and the effect is very impressive. The key is not to use a dye that contains pigments.

As opposed to a stain, a dye is helpful, especially on woods like maple for example, where there is a pronounced difference between the soft and harder grains of the wood. OP, you asked about enhancing this effect. If you do use a water or alcohol-based dye in this case, and then sand directly after, the soft grains will retain the dye and you will end up sanding the die off the hard grains. Repeat this a few times and as you might expect, the contrast is enhanced.

 

[NVShooter]

...By time we are talking months to complete...

I can see maybe taking a month, with leaving sufficient drying time between (wet) sandings but even with checkering included, I don't think I've ever taken more than a month to complete a stock. Maybe if there were repairs involved too. If I had to guess, I might spend about 60-90 minutes every three days or so (depending on the stage in the process) on a typical butt stock. What are you doing that it takes you multiple months to complete a stock?