Mahogany colour variation

[davidjmking]

Put my first coat of Le Tonk on some toerails and rubbing strakes that had been newly sanded and to my horror they turned red. I had cleaned some old stain off the wood with oxalic acid and then gave them a wipe with white spirits before varnishing to clean. Have I made a terrible chemical concoction which will forever mean they'll be red? This is the colour they should be (same wood stock, rubbing strake, the side that was bedded against the topsides)..http://i.imgur.com/Bja9M.jpg
and what they've become with one coat...(excluding the spinnaker pole which I forgot to remove)
http://i.imgur.com/6jebn.jpg
Am stuck with the red wood colour?

[yzer]

The wood was originally stained with a filler stain and varnished. If you want to remove the old stain you must remove it completely or the remaining color will be uneven or of an altered hue under the finish.

To completely remove varnish and stain from Philippine or Honduras mahogany I use repeated applications of Jasco Premium Paint and Epoxy Remover with a scraper followed by sanding to remove the last remaining stain. This is only one of several ways to accomplish this task.

After stripping and final sanding I prefer to restore the mahogany to the original color by applying new filler stain of the correct color followed by sealer and varnish.

To get the correct color with wood that has been stained and finished with a traditional amber colored spar varnish you need the stain of the original color and the amber varnish.

[yzer]

It is very difficult to match refinished wood with old. Correct stain and finish isn't the whole story. A few years of aging with sunlight will shift the color of even the best stains and dyes. Once you take a piece of stained wood down to bare wood you might well plan on refinishing everything if you want good color matching.

[davidjmking]

Filler stain was right on the mark, in the end I used an A/B bleach which actually bleached it as well as removing the old stains. I quite like the look of 'blonde mahogany' though and apparently it was quite a popular look in the 40's so not so wacky.
http://i.imgur.com/kvlAY.jpg (http://imgur.com/kvlAY)
fitting them has thrown up a bit of a problem though. The wood seems to have straightened a bit, something i thought could be pulled out with the screws, but as the hull is pitch pine, I'm worried I could cause damage. Any techniques that might ease it into place that doesn't include a full steam box?http://i.imgur.com/Rro3x.jpg (http://imgur.com/Rro3x)

[Paul G.]

I think youre doing the right thing, let it sit for a while and wind it in a bit more.