I bought 2 white oak handrails which are prefinished and the colour difference between them is vast. One being brown and the other has a lot more of a red/pink tinge to it. The contrast is so different that they can't be used together as part of the same handrail assembly. I am waiting a response from the company who supplied them but I was wondering what treatments could be used to make them match?
If you attempt to treat them to get them to match you're defeating the point of buying prefinished white oak in the first place. While it's rarer than hens teeth to have two identically grained toned pieces side by side cut from different trees, the company you bought them from should have known common sense and tried to match them best they could, unless you selected them yourself, in which case it's down to you. If you bought them online for example, then I wouldn't touch them and try to get the company to replace one with a better match. If you are out of luck and have to try to match it yourself, then look up Fiddes in Cardiff via website, they are top notch with finishes.
It is quite a common problem with stair hand rails. I just googled "monkey tail stairs" and this was the first picture. As you can see completely different. Part of your problem is where it was sawn from the log to get the grain direction right. Here is another example
Thanks for the replies, yes they were sourced online and I suspect they have been pulled off the shelf in the manufactures cardboard boxes and not checked for colour consistency prior to despatch. I will see what response I get from the supplier and try and get something with a closer match rather than trying to treat them with anything.