That's a decent sized hammer for that job, no wonder it came out
I tend to do the finish and then sand the pocket if needs be at the end rather than making it over-sized now. if you use a thin finish you might find you don't need to do anything, I have only has to once, with a multi-layered opaque colour finish. What are you planning on doing with the finish?
I like the three-strips of grain in it, it isn't a good mach bit is kinda a cool look