Removing Carnauba Wax

[Lou Jacobs]

I have a piece that I applied carnauba wax to. The finish came out beautifully with a hard, high gloss shine, but I’d like to remove it. It is too glossy and plastic looking for this piece. I’d like to put on an oil finish instead. Is there a solvent that anyone has experience with that would save me from having to turn off the finish? It is on hard (sugar) maple, so is not imbedded in the grain so much as on the surface of the wood.

 

[john lucas]

Mineral spirits will take it off. When I get a piece that is too glossy I scrub it with 4/0 steel wool and which makes it very satin. If I want it shinier then I rub Johnson's paste wax on it.

 

[Lou Jacobs]

Thanks John! I’ll give that a shot. It is also lighter than I’d like it to be, and I think walnut oil will give it a bit more color.

 

[Lou Jacobs]

John, thanks so much. Mineral spirits and 0000 steel wool did it.

 

[robo hippy]

I believe turpentine will also do the trick. That is the solvent for Kiwi neutral shoe polish, which is carnuba wax.... Hmm, spell check doesn't know what carnuba is... It is also the solvent in Butcher's Wax, a product used on bowling lanes, and carnuba based.

robo hippy

 

[Odie]

Thanks John! I’ll give that a shot. It is also lighter than I’d like it to be, and I think walnut oil will give it a bit more color.

Also, Danish Oil comes in several shades of walnut color......

-----odie-----

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Alcohol dissolves wax. Try Renaissance Wax for a less shiny surface.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Hmm, spell check doesn't know what carnuba is...

Would you like to buy a vowel? (Hint: buy the letter "a"). There's three a's in carnauba ... that's my mnemonic for remembering how to spell it.

 

[Emiliano Achaval]

I believe turpentine will also do the trick. That is the solvent for Kiwi neutral shoe polish, which is carnuba wax.... Hmm, spell check doesn't know what carnuba is... It is also the solvent in Butcher's Wax, a product used on bowling lanes, and carnuba based.

robo hippy

I have turpentine in the shop, what an awful smell... I use it as little as possible.

 

[robo hippy]

Hmm, I kind of like turpentine smell. I thought it is derived from tree sap, but not positive on that. Better than mineral spirits or lacquer thinner...

robo hippy

 

[Lou Jacobs]

Yes, it’s a pine sap distillate. I was just cutting some southern yellow pine this morning and it smelled distinctly like terps. I like the smell also, but not sure I’d want it permeating my bowls. The smell of the mineral spirits lingered on the bowl yesterday, but is now all gone.

 

[Bill Boehme]

There is odorless mineral spirits, but the quality seems to vary.. Sometimes it's odorless and sometimes it smells like the regular mineral spirits.

 

[Ed Jarvis]

Also, Danish Oil comes in several shades of walnut color......

-----odie-----

is your woodfast lathe a 908?

Ed

 

[Odie]

is your woodfast lathe a 908?

Ed

Yessir......M908, 16" swing long bed.

-----odie-----

 

[Davey Jones Johnson]

I think most solvents will dissolve/wash it off lacquer thinner, acetone, toulene and espically MEK. acetone is said to be the fastest evaporatin.. ofcourse they are very flammable. like the flash point of MEK is 24 degrees F