Cheers for the moral boost fellas. My main problem from the start with this one was that I was basically being a bit of a bull at a gate so to speak and not taking my time to think through the processes properly.
The plan is still very similar but im going to use the tru oil on the top this time around instead of the DT colorless. I still have a bit of sanding to do at this point. It took a fair bit of effort to take the clear off the top. Even after a few weeks it was still not cured under the clear as was pointed out in an earlier post.