General Category > General Discussion

Building a shine with beeswax?

<< < (2/2)

Paul Disdle:
From what I have read and what some commercial companies do you need turps to mix with your beeswax. See link for some recipes http://codesmiths.com/shed/workshop/recipes/waxpolish.htm

Paul

Woodcrafts:
Hi Arcos,
I use beeswax on some of my turnings and think I have a few tips that might be relevant, especially regarding a poor finish
--- Quote from: arcos on February 25, 2013, 11:17:22 PM ---Unfortunately the finish was less than desirable! Even with applying an extra coat or two or wax and buffing the wax just did not give a nice finish. More or less leaving a rather tacky, not particularly bright, shiny finish.

I turned a piece of grape vine today and applied beeswax. The finish was ok(?) but not brilliant!

I can see that beeswax would react differently with different woods, particularly oily wood but just  smaller section of wood?

What solvent would be best used for beeswax and would it create a 'wipe on' finish?

--- End quote ---
I would say that you've got too much wax on the piece, adding more will just make the problem worse. Beeswax is always a bit 'sticky' so a heavy layer will take ages to harden and take a shine. My method is to lightly stroke the edge of my block of beeswax along the spinning wood several times. This puts down spiral streaks of wax. Then with a clean soft cloth, start at one end, with the lathe at a reasonably high (safe!) speed, apply moderate pressure and you will blend the streaks of wax into a thin even coating. Don't rub back and forwards or you will form rings of wax. When you get to the other end of your turning, use a new section of the cloth and repeat the process. Keep doing this until you can't see any wax on the cloth. You should now have a nice thin, well distributed coating of wax that is starting to shine. Ideally leave this to harden for at least 24 hours, then buff it with a very soft cloth or buffing mop.

One other thing, white spirit or turpentine substitute will NOT dissolve beeswax, you need REAL turpentine. Unfortunately that's a bit more expensive, but mixing your own finishes is still cheaper than buying commercial products.

And if you want to make up Eli Aviseras Sanding wax, instead of pure mineral oil (can be difficult to source) I use Johnsons Baby oil which is mineral oil with a slight scent, as it is readily available in most supermarkets. By the way, the main purpose of his mixture is to control dust, as a light coating of his wax while sanding makes the dust form little clumps, instead of hanging in the air and getting in your lungs. Worth doing even if you've got good dust extraction. There are several demonstrators using this in the UK and it surprises most turners who haven't tried it.

I have never heard of mixing beeswax with oil based paint but if you are like me, I will try anything once. To me, that is part of the pleasure of woodturning. As long as it's safe, give it a go! Let us all know if you have any success  8), or failure  ???. We learn from both  ;D.

arcos:
Great info guys thank you!

Sanding wax? This is simply applied to avoid dust when sanding?

Woodcrafts, the application of beeswax is pretty much as I do it. The thing that I don't do is wipe until no more wax is showing on the cloth! I will be doing that next time I use beeswax and see what happens.

My 'soft wax' mix of beeswax and BLO has turned out quite nice and SEEMS to be usable! I think that it could have had a little more BLO in it has set fairly hard however, it is still easily applied with a cloth by hand and does seem to give a nice, rich finish. When I have something turned and finished with this I will post a photo.

It is certainly 'fun' experimenting, safely of course, with finishes. Baby oil is going to be something I have to try!

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[*] Previous page