How will you keep a consistent color wth fairing and sanding?

: With an amazing stroke of luck, I was able to get many board feet of clear
: red-cedar at an estate sale for a reasonable price. However, the colors in
: the batch are very similar, so I didn't know if using a stain to darken
: select strips would be a wise idea. Has anyone tried this? Is there a
: difference is using a dye, oil, or water based stains? How did or how will
: the stain effect the epoxy?
: Thanks,
: Steven