i am trying to stain some legs on a saddle stand.. i believe the legs are yellow pine. (just some old wood i had) .. i used a dark stain and wonder if i might should have used something lighter.. also can you put tung oil ( just happen to have some) or would a clear poly be better.. any help as i am new to the stain game..

I just finished stripping a coffee table that consists of several laminated pieces and several straight pieces. They are all fir. I wanted to change the color from plain fir to a maple shade. I'm using a Varathane's Premium Oil Stain - Colonial Maple. I noticed that there was a suggestion to use Varathane's Wood Conditioner before staining if the project used a soft wood such as fir. It didn't say why to use it, and since I didn't have any, I went ahead and stained the pieces. Unfortunately the wood looks splotchy. I've since discovered that the wood conditioner helps with making the stain application look more even. So now I need to correct my mistake. Do I have to sand the wood again before applying the conditioner or can I apply the conditioner over the splotchy stain? I suspect that I have to sand the wood but before going to all that trouble (there are about 16 pieces of varying sizes), I thought I'd ask for advice. Please help!