Lovely carving.
Fresh wood is so easy to manipulate. Wonderful carving, I appreciate the larger size, too.
Apply a first coat of finish. I know that most times, all sorts of wood fiber sticks up.
Let the finish set up good and hard.
Wipe the carving with the XXX coarse steel wool. Bulldog brand is what we get.
The coarse stuff has flat fibers which don't break. Instead, they cut like a million chisels
to skim off the rough wood fiber without taking much of the finish.
Always find your work inspiring. Something to aim towards!