Same stain but not the same color outcome.
Hello.
I have two pieces of Hevea butcherblock countertops and both are stained with an oil base Dark Walnut. One coat of stain each and I used a pre-stain conditioner on both. As the pictures show, one is a little darker than the other. The first time I stained them, the darker one did not accept the stain well so I spent 6 hours sanding the stain off using 80, 120, 150 and finally 220 grit sand paper. This was the same sanding process used on the lighter stained piece minus the 80 grit. We really like how the lighter color looks.
What is or is there a good way to try and get these to match? I am considering very lightly sanding the darker stained piece using 0000 steel wool.
Sanding and taking either one or both back to their natural state is not an option and neither living with the color disparity. The other side was used to test stain in several areas. If these cannot be closely matched, then I'll just end up making shelves our of them and buying a walnut butcherblock to finish w/o staining it.
I would appreciate any ideas.