if you want the lightest possible finish first finish sanding and shaping.... as a stock maker myself at the current point it still looks very unfinished. Use a stiff leather backed piece of wood and sand up to 2500 grit. Your really not sanding much of anything past 1000 grit just burnishing. Once at 2000 grit burnish with stiff leather. By this point you will have a stock that's absolutely flawlessly sanded and the burnished surface will prevent too much take up of oil. Do a small test patch of oil or desired finish in a subtle area... if still too dark then remove and burnish that area again. French polish will seal and give you gloss but wont darken like oil finishes will, if you want to add a bit of colour you can tint your french polish with alkanet this colour would be "in the finish" as apposed to "in the wood"... mix alkanet with alcohol, filter off the alkanet add the coloured alcohol to the shellac flakes to make your finish.