Hi guys an gals, im a reborn newbie here.Took carpentry for 4 yrs in vocational school.Some stuff is still in the brain some isnt...

I have two end tables that I built out of Poplar.I have one coat of red mahogany stain on it. I didnt wipe off the stain as indicated because it wasnt very thick (no puddle per se). Plus when you wipe it seems like you loose 75% of the color. So I had it in a garage of 40 degrees for one day an in house for 2 days 70 degrees. On the top theres a couple of shiny spots. Do I need to put another coat on the top? Or can I polyurethane it over that and the shine will just be absorbed by the shine of the poly?


PS I used minwax gel stain on it at first and had to sand it off. I will never use it again. Too much gelling and jam kind of look to it. Left little specs of gel balls on it too. I thought it was mixed thorughly but maybe not.I read an opinion about it on epinions the contractor hated it also.


Thanks