Hi EG, welcome to the Forums and thank you for the complement.
At one stage I was going to try and hide the ply with a dark burst, but I have really grown to like it as a feature now. So it will be a natural finish in either naughty oil (we are not allowed to say Tru-oil lol) or some Minwax satin finish. I can't see the point of doing much else as the pine will dent very easily and ruin any finish I end up using.
The TO will give it a slight amber colour whereas the minwax will retain the very light colour of the pine.
Cheers mate,
rob