Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - can I lighten the stain I just applied?

I installed an oak threshold and very lightly stained it with minwax (oil based) red oak. It is darker than the floor and doesn't match as well as I had hoped. I was told to use red oak stain which I think now is the wrong color. The wood floors as I have been told are red oak so I think all I needed was a clearcoat? I did not apply any sealer such as poly or varnish yet. Is there a way to lighten the stain or remove it all and start over? Would thinning it out with paint thinner lighten the red oak in the can.
Thanks




Chris

You could try paint thinner to remove as much of the stain as possible, but it likely won't remove the stain, and in fact, may make it penetrate into the wood even deeper.

Instead, I'd recommend that you remove the threshold, if possible, because the solvents I will recommend will damage the surrounding surfaces.

Get yourself a quart of lacquer thinner and an old toothbrush. Scrub the threshold vigourously with an abundance of lacquer thinner (and do this as soon as possible, before the stain dries!) Then have some clean rags to wipe the wood down. Repeat as necessary. It should lighten the stain considerably, provided you haven't waited too long.

If the floor you are trying to match isn't the same color as the sample color strip on the front of the can, then it isn't the right stain color to use.

You also might try sanding. Be sure to sand with the direction of the grain.

Red oak wood is a species of oak [as opposed to white oak] Minwax has various stains that have the word oak in them. As XSleeper stated the color off the stain should somewhat match the color of the finished floor. When poly is applied the colors will deepen and shine.

If putting poly down will make it darker than I definitely must do something