Hi Greg. The only glue issue I had with mine was quite a visible line down the veneer join, which is why I went with a few coats of the Vintage Cherry lacquer, which hid it nicely. It obviously darkened the overall colour, but in a nice way, so I'm not displeased.

As you will have read, I too had to sand off the original Tru-Oil, after doing a sand-through. And yes, when it's fully hardened, it is very hard. I just wondered how I ever managed to sand-through in the first place!

Tinted lacquer seems to be a good remedy for mitigating glue spots that can't be removed, as it doesn't rely on being absorbed by the wood, it just sits on top. So I think if I did any more builds with veneer tops, I probably wouldn't stain, I'd just go with lacquer, though I might stain just to pop the grain and then do the main colour through lacquer.

I'm certainly not immune to slipping with tools on finishes (failing to mask off for protection is a recurring crime for me) and the binding has been painted twice. I'd much have preferred not to have done that, but that spirit-based stain forced me to.