Hoot,
After appropriate sanding and "whiskering", I suggest "over the counter" Tru-oil or Lin-speed or similar finish. It should be applied (I rub it in with my bare hands) and allowed to dry. When dry, sand and/ or steel wool it back to bare wool with the abrasive "backed up" to prevent rounding edges and making "ripples". Apply another coat and take it down to bare wood, like the first coat. Continue until you are satisfied with filling the pores and sand the last coat to bare wood. If you will have checkering done, now is the time to do it. After checkering or if none will be cut, the final finish would be one coat of "Boiled Linseed Oil", applied by hand and rubbed off. It should be noted that this is not the method I observed German stockmakers use with normal "field" stocks", which were submerged in oil (sometimes with dyes added, if the blank has sap wood) until the wood took up all the oil it would absorb at which point it was removed and wiped dry and hung to cure. This takes the least actual labor, but doesn't always fill all the pores flush with the surface.
Mike
