Painting - stain, polyeurathane, polycrylic questions

I'm putting in a floating staircase, and I have these beautiful oak treads for the stairs. Two issues - I stained them and got the color i thought I wanted. I put one coat of waterbased polycrylic on. When I finished i realized the stain really wasn't as dark as I wanted it. Is there any way to remove the polycrylic and add more stain, or I am pretty much stuck with it now? Also, I'm not thrilled with the finish of the polycrylic. Even if I can't remove it, can I put oil based polyeurethane over water based polycrylic for a better finish? Thanks.

One problem with water-based finishes is that they are water-clear and tend to drain the vigor from the effect of the stain. One solution is to apply a coat of shellac before the water-based stain. Another is to add an amber tint to the finish.

On to your problem. Short of stripping the treads, I cannot think of any way to enhance the stain.

"Oil-based" finishes tend to lend a richer effect to the stain because of the tendency to yield an amber tint.

Chris didn't address the issue of adding oil based poly over the water based and I don't know the answer to whether you can. But, if you can, that is probably the simplest solution. Hang on a little longer and others with more knowledge than me will chime in.

I'm not fond of applying oil poly over water based poly, especially on a floor but if you sand off the majority of the polycrylic, it should be ok.

I agree there is no good way to change the stain color short of stripping of the finish.

Thanks for the info. I think I'm just going to deal with the color and continue with the polycrylic. I've learned my lesson for next time!