Bill Tindall, E.Tn.
The panels shown earlier have yet to be final smoothed to be ready for finish. Steve Latta cautions about sanding them to any great extent. He uses a scraper. Last night I tried a hand plane on a test panel. It was set to a very fine shaving and had the cap iron set close to the blade tip. The result looked satisfactory. However, these door panels are only 1/2" thick and they don't stay perfectly flat by themselves (they will in the frame). I may have a difficult time planing them if they hump much. I have a newly sharpened scraper at the ready.

An unanticipated problem with sanding is the fact that walnut sanding dust acts like pigment stain on the Holly. Anywhere that there is torn grain or other roughness captures dark dust and makes the Holly look dirty.