Veneer and stain matching issue on Mersman side tables
Hello furniture refinishing friends.
I am trying my hand at refinishing some Mersman side tables. I stripped the finish on both, and carefully hand-sanded the veneer to 150 grit. After, the wood on the top left table was a noticeably different color.
After staining with General Finishes Candlelite gel stain, the difference is still stark. I will try a second coat in a small, inconspicuous spot, but am skeptical it will work, as the veneer below is so different in tone to begin with.
I’ve only refinished a handful of pieces, so this is a new conundrum for me. Does anyone have any advice as how to proceed? My only idea was to buy a different oil based stain to mix in with Candlelite to attempt to warm and deepen the color (GF Georgian Cherry?), but I wanted to check with this subreddit before doing anything.
The first photo was after sanding. The second photo was after stain.
Does anyone have any suggestions before I go down the stain matching rabbit hole? Any advice would be much appreciated.