Make sure your varnish is thin enough. And definately never go back and touch up an area after a few minutes. Even in a few minutes, it thickens and won't lay out flat. Most varnish out of a FRESH, FULL can is the right viscosity except for Flagship which tends to run a little thick. As a can gets used, air in the can thickens the varnish. Only experience will tell you what the perfect viscosity is. In my estimation, better thin than thick. Also, don't add thinner and give it a few stirs with a stick. Mix it really well or you will get dull spots. I thin my varnish the day before by shaking up the can for a few minutes.

If you were varnishing a table top, the next coat would start filling the indentations and you could lay on a fairly full coat. But because its a round object you should sand - simply because you want to put on light coats to keep from dripping. I would sand it fairly smooth and chalk it up as experience. Wet sanding goes very fast. Matter of fact, you can go through it if you're not careful. I like wet sanding because it works well even on the varnish after one day of dry time. You can dry sand but only deglossing the surface or it starts gumming up the paper. Varnish takes a long time to dry to the point where it produces powder on dry sanding.