I recently purchased a tilt-top pie crust top table. The person from whom I purchased it tried to refinish it. In the process they put wood putty lighter the the wood to fill holes. How do I darken the wood putty to match the table? Does anyone know, or do I have to remove the putty and then put in new to match the stain or color of wood. I have never removed wood putty, how do you do it?

I am trying to find the best table top finish for an oak table top, in order to avoid glass ring spots or other types of water damage problems. So far, I have found 3 possible solutions: 1. Evercoat Table Top Resin - Clipper Bay Yachts Store claims that applying one coat of this resin is equivalent to 50 coats of varnish. 2. Behlen's Rock Hard Tabletop Varnish - Antiquestorers.com claims it is very resistant to alcoholic beverage spills, abrasion, and water rings. 3. Polyurethane finishes. Will the polyurethane finishes provide the protection I want? Or, will one of the other possible solutions or some other solution be better?