For making light colored wood match, there's no substitute for leather die. You can get it in any color you need and can match things perfectly. The oils don't have the deep color to change light to dark. Then after you match, you could stain and BLOicon or whatever your finish is going to be. Yes, the light patches are why the paint. You need to strip all that crap off first though. I'd still use a liquid stripper for paint...