The wrong way to apply beeswax polish.

[Ian Stirling]

Can anyone say why I should not simply clean thouroughly a polished item that needs a bit of polish, then rub a rag with some beeswax polish over the area to be polished, followed by simply going round with a electric paintstripper set on hot 1cm away from the surface, at a speed of 30cm/sec?

It melts the polish into the wood, and gives a nice finish, much faster, and no rubbing.

The wood is not overheated (you can do the same thing to your hand with little effect) and it just seems lots easier.

If the item is not too scuffed up, no wax needs added.

[stuart noble]

Sounds like more work than applying the polish as it was designed. The alternative is to use a product like Briwax that has a fast solvent and contains a balance of hard and soft waxes. Those based on white spirit/turpentine often suffer from "trapped" solvent where the surface dries but the underneath stays tacky.

[Andy Dingley]

Because waxes need to be mechanically buffed - it aligns the mechanicl structure of the plates in the wax, giving a shine.

If you do this entirely by heat or solvent, then you'll get a matt finish. For some purposes, this may be all you need. A little gentle wiping does help with getting an even thickness though.

[Mary Fisher]

!

[Michael Mcneil]

You might as well use vaseline or any grease. If the surface was shellac laquered then that might turn to toffee on you. You might get a problem with other natural finishes not likely though but possible.

Polish is as polish does. As with car wax, wax polish is a cutting paste. It is the finest of finishes but still an abrasive.

[Andy Dingley]

Short and to the point.

I once found myself wearing a freshly waxed leather jacket, whilst a well-known chemical psychopath toasted me down with a hot air gun. Then I remembered that we'd dissolved the beeswax in cyclohexane, a solvent where the jar is labelled "f**king flammable", not just the usual acetone . It wasn' t the smartest thing I've ever done.

[Ian Stirling]

Odd. I get a gloss finish. Maybe this is due to speed. The cooling rate probably exceeds 600C/second.

[Huge]

I tried to melt a tin of Nikwax on the cooker once, so I could wax a Barbour jacket by painting the wax on, since rubbing it on was slow and very boring.

Gas cooker.

It was only a *small* fire.

[stuart noble]

Neither of which are solids, which is why they're not used to finish furniture.

I've never known a furniture polish that contained abrasives.

[stuart noble]

Beeswax isn't hard enough to be termed gloss. It's valued for lustre/glow but other waxes are much shinier. Not suitable for fabrics either because its melting point is too low. Microcrystalline waxes combine a dull finish with high melting point

[Mary Fisher]

"stuart noble" Not suitable for fabrics either because its melting point is too low.

Well, again, it depends on the finish you require.

And are unsuitable for finishes on more 'traditional' items.

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

"stuart noble" >> finish. For some purposes, this may be all you need. A little gentle

Furniture polish is applied to wood - a relatively soft material. Car polishes are very diffeent, the ground they are finishing is hard.

Mary

[Michael Mcneil]

"stuart noble" furniture.

What do you think evens out the imperfections in the finely ground almost finished product? I suggest someone take this to Google or something similar before any more silly comments are made.

As for using vaseline which by the way imparts a nice finish -to oak for one timber, I never said it was a polish. I was comparing its use to the OP's idea of heating the wax finish.

I have sen engine oil used as a finish on plywood. It looked OK. I doubt it was much use theough as oil in wood tends to soften it. I don't know what long term effect it may have had on the ply.

Does anyone know why some French Polish is called garnet? Or am I misremembering something from my dim and distant?

[Paul Mc Cann]

snip

Car polishes and car buffing compounds are frequently used on high end furniture to give an ultra high sheen. The polish of course only affects the underlaying finish, be it a stoved car paint or a furniture lacquer, not the structural element of the piece.

Paul Mc Cann

[Paul Mc Cann]

In article , [e-mail] says... snip

I think you are referring to Garnet Shellac. It refers to the colour and is also called Orange Shellac. Blonde or bleached shellac is the same material with this (natural) color removed.

Paul Mc Cann

[stuart noble]

Ground what? IIRC silitin is the mineral that used to be added to car polishes when they were made from wax. Abrasives serve no purpose in a wood finish.

Wax is a solid, vaseline is not. Vaseline stays forever greasy, dirt sticks to it, and it really has nothing going for it that I can think of.

Well try it on your furniture then.

[stuart noble]

Now there is a finish for oak. Garnet has a distinctly mauve hue which combines with the yellow of the wood to give a coldish brown. The raw material also contains a proportion of wax, which is often removed in the finer grades. The wax itself fetches a premium price for some reason, which proves the bees haven't quite cornered the market in animal waxes.