I've dabbled a bit in waterborne finishes. Years ago I made a chessboard and brushed on a semi-gloss waterborne finish, but the wood was not colored in any way. Recently I was testing Transtint dyes on curly maple. It took me a bit to get the hang of it. What I hated was how messy the Transtint dyes are. I can't even pull the cap off without stain getting on my hands.
As far as raising the grain, I am aware it needs to be done but have never done it on this scale. And I've heard using 220 grit and 320 grit to remove the fuzzies. The guy at Woodcraft said use 220. So I'm not a total newbie there. But I'm nowhere near the experience I have with oil based finishes. Even though I hate finishing, I've got oil based finishes down fairly well.
Now on to conversion guns... I have a 60 gal air compressor in the garage and a pancake compressor in the basement shop. I can run an air hose from the garage into the shop. I had one run into the shop a few years ago. So that's no big deal. I suppose I'd have to install a water separator as the garage is colder (at least now) than the shop.
When I first read about conversion guns years ago, I read that they created a lot more overspray than HVLP turbine system setups. Overspray is a HUGE concern for me! The only area in the basement I can spray is the finished part of the basement. The workshop just doesn't have enough room unless I remove the tools. So overspray could damage light fixtures, a pool table, an oak bar and chairs, a build in cabinet and some furniture. If there's any chance of overspray doing that, spraying is out unless I wait until the weather breaks. And if I did that, might as well go with oil based.
Before dinner I wetted down the oak on the new cabinet and on a sample of mahogany. When I went back to sand down the fuzzies, I found they had raised as expected on the oak but almost not at all on the mahogany. The mahogany only had a few short veins on one side where the grain had raised. Prior to watering, the oak had been sanded from 80 grit to 180 grit. The mahogany had only been planed. So I don't know if the difference in fuzzies coming up was in the wood or the sanding vs. planing.
I also did some test pieces with the ebony dye on oak and medium brown dye on mahogany. I found I had to leave the dye on the oak, and not wipe it off, if I wanted it ebonized. On the mahogany, one coat of dye, wait a few minutes and wipe it off and it looks almost perfect. I just need to compare it to the sapele when both are coated with a finish. I'm starting to feel more comfortable with this unknown.
Thanks all for your help! I'm still in a quandary about the sprayer issue. Maybe I can find a video that focuses on overspray so I can see if it's too much. We have a Graco X5 we bought to spray the house. Think that would do the trick?
John, I just read your post. - Sure! I'd love to see the pics!