I've been commissioned to build a gun cabinet for a customer who wants a very pronounced "grainy" look with sharp contrasts between the grain and the field of the piece. I think that flat sawn red oak will be the route to go. I am set up for spraying waterbornes and have a decent stock of Target products on hand, but I've heard red oak is very touchy when it comes to waterbornes. Here are my questions to you, the experts:
1. Is there a relatively safe way to get this look with waterbornes?
2. If not, how would you approach this with solvent finishes?
3. Any other advice for finishing red oak?
One other thing...as always, the budget is kind of tight on this one (hence the desire to use my Target stuff) so I want to keep the number of finishing products I need to buy on the low side.
Thanks