Machined up the side panels and have applied a few coats of Danish Oil buffed with 0000 grade steel wool. I like to apply the oil with a rag and wipe off any wet areas once it's starts going tacky, and then before the enxt coat goes on buff it all over with the steel wool. You end up with a mirror smooth finish, but with Vic Ash/Tassie Oak you need to make sure you get all the steel wool fibres off as they'll react with the tannins in the timber and you get little black spots if left.
I can tell you I underestimated the level of annoyance in sanding around all the leaves and vine to a point I was happy with the result. I ended up using 100grit sandpaper to define the edges, then wire brushes with a Dremel to smooth and level out (this worked really well), and then worked through a few grades of steel wool ending up with 0000 grade to finish off and clean up.
Was more effort than I recalled with a similar job a while back, unless my memory is playing up!
Still need to trim the ends and sides, and sand the edges but it came out good. The finished size of the side panels will be around 135mm x 990mm.
cheers, Ian