Carl McIver writes:

I've been giving a good bit of thought about how to separate the water
before it gets into my compressor tank.

Even if you intercool and remove any liquid water, the compressed air is
still warmer than ambient and at 100 percent relative humidity. As it
cools down the line it condenses more liquid water. Don't confuse "wet"
with "moist". One is liquid, one is vapor. One you can mechanically
filter, the other you can't.

The only way to make dry air is with a phase-change heat transfer, such as
a refrigerated dryer, ice bath, or regenerated dessicant.