To be fair John, no pun intended, I level off my epoxy prior to varnishing with blades which I continuously sharpenn, one side only, to get a burr, on my diamond stone.

The entire hull and deck may require six blades.

order to knock off all ridges and get everything leve I work diagonally Across the strips then diagonally the other way, then along the grain, I do the same with the deck.

After the above procedure a quick once over with 220 on a ROS and then by hand with water.to key for varnish is all that is needed.

I know some use proper scrapers for this, but I find the blades handy enough.

Et