Finishing unmatched boards

[John Landis]

I am refinishing a small maple table, and after stripping and sanding, I find one board in the middle of the top is significantly darker than the others.

How can I finish this to make sure it stains evenly?

[Steve Schoene]

You have didcovered one of the problems with refinishing factory furniture. They so often make zero attempt to match woods, but just do a finish that covers it all.

But before figuring out a specific method it would help to know what kind of look you have in mind.

You could for example, use a two part wood bleach and remove most all of the color from the top and start over.

A dye would go quite some way to evening out the color, and with some care could be applied in a more intense mix on the lighter woods than the darker. This could then be evened further with an overall gel stain coating.

With spray equipment you could do what the original manufacturer likely did and after some basic over all dye, toners were sprayed that made the finish almost like a paint.

[John Landis]

Thanks. I have neither the equipment nor the skill to spray, but will see what I can do with dyes and gels