Gloss Tru-Oil Finish on Stew-Mac Parts Tray

About a month ago I procured one of the neato Stew-Mac parts trays.  They have both a large and small version, shaped like a Tele or a Strat.  I got the large Tele one because a) I have finally realized I needed a tray to put small parts and b) I wanted to try a gloss Tru-Oil finish and this seemed like the ideal medium.

I put about 20 thin coats of Tru-Oil on it, and then set it aside to cure.  It wound up sitting for about 2 weeks.

The Tru-Oil (basically varnish) really enhanced the grain.  The trays are made out of ash, so enhancing the grain is a good thing in this case.

I'm already thinking I should have put a piece of felt in the storage part...maybe I'll do that on a second one.

You can get a better idea of the gloss in this shot.  It's not quite as glossy as nitro, but it looks good.  

After I put the oil on and let it sit, I did the usual sanding and polishing.

I was wary of starting with too coarse a grit, so I started with 1000 and went up to 8000.  The finish is super smooth now.

Then I machine polished it with Griot's Machine Polish 1, which is a fine grade polish.

You can see the gloss better in this shot.  It is reflective.

And again on the back.

First load of small parts that were hiding on the bench.  Plus a watch I need to fix the band on.

This gives you an idea of the size - this is the large size and I suspect the small version is a little too small for my use.