I was just having a quick re-read of all the replies here. I'm a
little confused, now, about the use of water -- I thought you *had* to
use it to raise the grain at some point in the finishing process. But
-- it's almost sounding as if you only need to do that if you are about
to apply a water-based finish (which I'm not). Is that correct?

With oil-based products do you just use mineral spirits?