Thanks for a good suggestion, Phrozin.

Horses are shedding and the lawn needs mowing and this project should have been finished weeks ago. It's now getting a few coats of wipe-on poly. I am following a Canadian dude named Brad Angove. He suggests applying the first couple of coats of wipe-on, gently, with 1500 grit sandpaper. Idea is that the sandpaper creates a small amount of fine, colored sawdust which serves to fill in tiny imperfections. I'll let you know.