I need some advice.

I had some oak pieces which are stain grade but a couple of boards are just veneer over particle board, and they are thin.

I used minwax oil based stain on it, on the first coat it was really light, the second coat didn't get even coverage, the solid oak pieces took the stain quite lightly and the veneer took it very dark because it penetrated through the thin veneer I guess. Still it was uneven over the same piece. But the end result was that I ended up going over the pieces a 3rd time used the stain similar to a glaze. The result is great and dark looking stain that looked like furniture makers use.

It has been two days and still slightly tacky. I took a test piece and let it sit in my car under the sun for a few hours now, and it's still not hardened at all and my finger nail can scrape it out. Can you guys tell me should I wait alot longer and proceed with clear coat or would I have to strip it out and start over again? Color-wise it worked -- I was very desparate since I was not getting an acceptable finish by the second coat.

If I choose to strip it beside mineral spirits what can I use? I definitely don't want to much liquid to soak the particular board pieces too much as they might warp. I heard minwax furniture refinisher plus scrotch brite might give a controlled way to remove the stain. Either way I would still have some uneven pieces that needs to be redone with a dark stain again, it's a big problem. I cannot just throw out a project and buy new pieces either, it's a mantel kit that costed me hundreds of dollars..

2 years ago I did some door thresholds with minwax stain this way, I remember it was slightly tacky but what the heck for a $10 project, I brushed on the clear coat (polyurethane), the poly got tinted a bit, but it dried to a nice hard finish after fully curied, chemically the top coat added strength to the stain coat just fine.

Also I have found out minwax's recent years' formulation takes a long time to dry to be compliant with VOCs and EPA rules?

I guess I am trying to convince myself to let it dry more and clear coat it and hope for the best. I can rub down the stain a bit so it is thinner and dry better too.

If I am keeping the stain, I am planning either to use a sanding sealer spray, or spray can of the poly or varnish to do the first coat to "seal in" the stain. Perhaps this surface that doesn't want to dry will dry better with a "fast drying" poly. I am out of ideas and maybe luck, I have read a few cases similar to mine but I am not sure what people ended up doing. I am going to try it out on my test piece and see if it sets up to a single fim finish

I would like to hear from the experienced users. Thanks!!