Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - Refinishing Bookshelf

I had a bookshelf that came with my house when I bought it. I completely gutted out the room and but decided to keep the shelf. I didn't like the edging or the finish, but it's a large shelf and it's oak. I sanded it down to bare wood and rounded over the edges to make it more aestheticly pleasing. So far, I've applied about 5 coats of Minwax sedona red stain to get the rich cherry color I desired. I followed the directions by wiping off the stain 15 mins after application and was maticulous to make sure I left an even coat. Despite all that, the shelf looks somewhat blocthy. There are also many tiny spots that have a glossy or oily finish. My guess is that the stain didn't take in those spots???? I tried wiping the shelf down with a rag dampened with mineral spirits (like the polyurethane instrucions said to do before sealing) after the third coat to see if I could maybe get rid of some of the blotchiness. It seemed to work somewhat, but then I had some tiny white spots pop up that looked flakey. Could that be the oily spots before that didn't seem to take? When I applied the fourth coat, the white spots went away, but again I have the oily spots. I haven't done much staining before and the little bit I have done was on pine. Is there something I'm doing wrong? I'm positive that I sanded it down all the way to the bare wood, so could there be something emerging from inside the wood repelling the small spots of stain? I thoroughly wiped off and evened out the stain within the recommended amount of time, so why is it still coming out somewhat blotchy? Also, Minwax's directions say not to sand between coats. Can I do a light sanding with a 220 grit paper when I'm done staining to try to get an even finish before I seal it?

Thanks,
Chris

Generally you are better off not applying more than 1 coat of stain - the first coat seals the wood enough that it has trouble obsorbing more stain.

I'd try a light sanding, be sure to sand with the direction of the grain - cross grain sanding will leave ugly scratches! Once you've sanded, wipe the wood with a thinner rag. You can get an idea of how it will look with poly/varnish while the thinner is still wet on the wood.