Building a shine with beeswax?

[arcos]

Last week I managed to get my hands on some beeswax sheets that I melted down into a block for testing a finish on a piece that was JUST a test piece.

I have had mixed results to be honest...

I took a piece of scabby old peach that I was going to throw onto the fire. Turned half of it and waxed it. It came up beautiful, left the other half to show what it originally looked like. Did the same with a scrap piece of olive. Again it looked quite nice.

Have now tried on some small, finished pieces and really not achieving the results I had hoped for. Finish appears fairly dull and not smooth!

Have not changed the application method in any way nor the buffing up.

I wonder, did I forget something? Is there a knack to getting beeswax to give a nice finish on smaller pieces? How does one build a beeswax finish up (multiple layers)?

Any tips for finishing with beeswax appreciated!

[Bryan Milham]

Beeswax, an interesting substance.

Mixed with a solvent, turpentine, white spirit etc and various colourants becomes the stuff you polish your furniture with.

Applying direct onto wood as a neat substance needs effort as it's not created to be spread thinly. I'm guessing the Peach turning was bigger than the small Olive turnings? A Larger item with a faster radial speed, the buffing creates a higher temperature, melts the wax into the grain better giving a better end result.

Also (a guess) the Olive will be full of it's natural oil and may react 'wrongly' with beeswax.

[arcos]

Interesting indeed!

It's interesting that the two "larger" items that I turned to test the beeswax were peach and olive. They were about the same size, only a pillar of wood, about 3 inches long and about half inch diameter. With the lathe running at the highest speed possible, the wax melted beautifully and created, to my mind, a 'perfect' finish!

Using the same wax on the same olive wood as previously used I had hoped to achieve similar results. 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?

I have also read that you can mix beeswax with an oil based paint? Primarily used on canvas I wonder if this would work on wood? Along similar lines, I also read that mixing beeswax with linseed oil has  way of thinning the beeswax to a wipe on type finish??

[arcos]

I have just read an article on mixing beeswax and BLO to make a 'soft wax'...

Anyone tried this?

I am having a little experiment this afternoon but no idea of quantities required to achieve a 'soft wax!

Oh well, let's see what happens!

[Bryan Milham]

Nope, never heard of it or anyone doing it - well not quite that way.

however this is a similar idea from the Israeli turner Eli Avisera.

He uses this wax for almost all his sanding needs, especially fine turnings, exotics and those very delicate finials he is so famous for.
After using the wax, he coats his pieces with a shellac finish followed by Renaissance Wax for a fantastic finish.

Sanding Wax

Ingredients:
2- 8 ounce bottles of regular mineral oil (chemist item)
1 – 1 lb. block of pure bees wax from Michael’s Arts and Crafts, Hobby Lobby, etc.
2-3 each 2- gallon Zip-Lok bags
1 pack of Zip-Lok disposable or reseal able containers (1 pint size)

Equipment:
1 stainless steel mixing bowl
1 pot boiling water

Boil a pot of water and place the stainless steel mixing bowl, full of chunks of the bees was in it, floating on the top of the water.  Allow the bowl to warm the wax slowly, without burning or changing the molecular make-up of the wax.  Bees wax melts at less than 200 degrees so the boiling water will melt it slowly.  As soon as it is about 90% melted, remove it from the water and set on counter.  Allow to stand for just a moment and before it begins to gel, stir in the first bottle of mineral oil. Mix thoroughly and allow to cool.

Using the 2 gallon Zip-Lok bags, scoop a portion (1/3) of the cooled mixture into the bag and add about 1/3 of the remaining bottle of oil to the bag.  Knead the two products together until you have something about the consistency of cake icing. Clip off the corner of the bag and squeeze the contents into the pint sized containers.  Get it all out, don’t waste the wax.  Repeat until batch is complete.

[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

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?

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  , or failure  . We learn from both  .

[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!