I aim to please... BTW, thanks for all the kind comments.
I sprayed my last coats.
After I level-sanded the sealer, I covered the sipo back with masking tape and sprayed a coat of tinted orange automotive lacquer on the wild cherry top and immediately removed the masking tape.
I sprayed two coats of clear to "catch up" to the ridge created by the tinted coat before level-sanding with 320-grit paper.
Here are the pics after spraying 3 clear top coats :
The flashy orange looks that way because of the... flash. It's actually a bit milder.
When dry, the dreaded buffing and polishing begins :
I started by doing the bulk of the work with 600-grade wet or dry paper used with mineral spirits. I removed most, but not all shiny spots. Since I only have 3 top coats, I don't want to sand through them, so I'm keeping the sanding to a minimum. If I find when polishing that some spots need more sanding, I will do it then.
But first, light sanding with 800, 1000, 1200-grade sandpaper with mineral spirits..
After polishing the back, it looks fine (well, in my eye at least) :
I started polishing the top before getting called for babysitting duty :
It looks like the sanding wasn't as thorough as on the back so I will probably need to sand some more before moving on with polishing.
Cheers,