I screwed up...need some advice regarding staining maple

[Contrary1]

I was in the process of re-staining a maple kitchen table. I sanded it down to the bare wood with no problem. I applied Minwax Early American to half of the table, which I have used before with great success.

To make a long sad story short, the table top came out too dark and blotchy...really bad. I did not realize that maple needed to be sealed first. I have had some success removing the stain with 3m-paint and varnish remover. It has not raised the grain.

I don't expect to get the table back to its original condition. But I would like to end up with a uniform color. Since I only stained half, it leaves me in a bit of a dilemma.

Would wood bleach be of any help?

Any advice would be most welcome.

Thanks!

[Stinky The Clown]

1. Oxalyc acid *might* help.

I've used it to get the dark water stains out of oak. Not perfect, but pretty damned good.

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

2. I have pulled stain off with stain stripper and lacquer thinner.

Buy some clean rags at hardware and razor scrapers work well.
like a wide 4" window scraper. Just be careful not to scrape into the wood. Outside is the best place to do it.
I stripped big heavy office doors that way ,than re-stained those doors a different stain color. Actually it was a maple color stain I stripped off. A steel putty knife works well too. 4" or 5 ". When your done stripping ,a light sand. also the lacquer thinner gets up the residue.It will strip the stain off too.Of course you will need rubber gloves !

[Paper Roses]

3. Always stain a complete side top or whatever at the same time.

Maple is such a hard wood that I wonder why you need filler. Filler is is usually reserved for open pore woods like Mahogany or Walnut. The best I have found is filler from Constantine's in Florida. I refinish mostly dark woods and use the Walnut filler. The Mahogany is too light and shows once you Varnish. Sequence: preparation, stain, fill, varnish.

I would use a stripper(I use 5F5, steel wool of 2 or 3 ought and rub the heck out of the area you stained. My husband used wood bleach on something once and was very dissatisfied with the results. As to the blotches, I bet you had some oily material that soaked into the wood at some point. Solvent should remove most of that as you work.

www.Minwax.com is a great web site with a Q and A section. Maybe it would be best to check them first. Don't want to make a bad thing worse. I think they also have a help line.

Be interested in hearing how you coped with this.

We all have a refinishing disaster of one type or another. Live and learn then spread the word.

Edited to add:
Whenever you use a paint and varnish remover, always wipe the stripped surface with a solvent. Paint removers have paraffin in them. That paraffin blocks the even absorption of stain and rubbing the wood down will remove the stuff. I use Parks Furniture Refinisher as my solvent. Nasty stuff but does the job. I believe denatured alcohol will do the same job. Use extreme caution.

Always work in a well ventilated area, wear gloves and eye protection. All this junk is necessary but very toxic. Properly dry and dispose of rags in the recommended way. They can spontaneously combust.