Recipe 13 of 100 · The Country Cleans Mix Book
Homemade Beeswax Polish for Antique and Waxed Wood Furniture
Antique or waxed furniture looking dry and dull? Melt 1 tablespoon grated beeswax into 1/4 cup mineral oil in a jar set in simmering water, then let it cool to a soft paste that keeps for a year. Dust the piece, work a tiny bit in with the grain, wait 20 minutes and buff. No vinegar or wet cloth on antiques. Never melt it over direct heat.
What it fixesDry, dull antique furniture and any waxed piece that must never see vinegar, ammonia or a wet cloth.
You need
- 1/4 cup mineral oil, plain, from the drugstore
- 1 tablespoon grated beeswax, hardware or craft store
- Heatproof jar
- Saucepan with an inch of water
- 2 soft cotton cloths
- Soft bristle brush for carvings
Mix it
- Put the mineral oil and grated beeswax in the jar and stand the jar in the saucepan of simmering water.
- Stir until the wax fully melts and the mix is clear, about 5 minutes.
- Take it off the heat and let it set up. It cools into a soft paste like shoe polish and it keeps for a year.
Use it
- Dust the piece thoroughly first with a dry cloth and the brush. Do not wash it, do not spray anything on it.
- Pick up a very small amount of the paste on a cloth and work it into one panel at a time, following the grain.
- Let it sit 20 minutes so the oil penetrates and the solvent free wax settles.
- Buff hard with the clean second cloth until the surface has a soft sheen and nothing comes off on your hand.
Dale's noteOld shellac and wax finishes are the actual value of an antique, so the goal is feeding what is there, not stripping it. Mineral oil is the right carrier because it never goes rancid the way olive or vegetable oil does inside a wax.
Don'tDo not melt this over direct heat on a burner. Wax and mineral oil are flammable and they will flash if they get hot enough, so it goes in a jar in a water bath, every time.
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