There are times when experienced finishers need a little humbling, I suppose this is my time.
I've been a finisher for around a decade at this point, but have never needed to do a spray-only stain on doors with profiles and projected trim (ogees added around the center panel that project out, such as Conestoga's Verona).
I've done spray-only stains on flat, grain-matched plywood slabs that turned out just fine, so naively I assumed I could replicate this on these projected trim doors with ease. Nope.
What methods are helpful in getting the stain evenly across the door and the trim/profiles? A direct, straight spray patter (like you would do on plywood slabs) doesn't cut it, you get far too little material in the inner corners of the profiles. Sorta the opposite of a glazed look: light spots in the corner instead of dark spots.
I am applying the spray-only stain with a CA Technologies Jaguar HVLP, approx. 20psi. I have thinned the stain enough such that I must make to "foggy" passes to achieve the right color.
Today I used an airbrush (Binks Wren) to get the profiles right, and then just duked it out with the HVLP and a finesse touch.
If I tried that with the HVLP, even dialed in narrow and light, I'd still get a lot of overspray on the door parts/panel, and the profiles would be still hit-or-miss.
End of the day, my first batch of 24 doors looks good, but that's literally half the number I would have gotten if I had the option of a wiping stain.
So what is the trick to getting a decent, even spray pattern with projected mouldings and panel routes?