For the DIY abrasive paste users...

[Sam Fleisher]

I made a batch today with a recipe consisting of 8 oz beeswax, 8 oz diatomaceous earth and 32 oz of mineral oil. Works pretty good so far though doesn't seem as gritty as the store bought I've been using.

Tomorrow I'm going to make a smaller batch without the grit, just beeswax and mineral oil for a polish then I was wondering if I could add some carnauba wax to that mix or will it hurt the beeswax somehow because of the different melting points?

Also, not knowing when to leave well enough alone I was wondering what will happen if I add some of the colored mica powder that is used for epoxy? Could you make an embellishing wax with that to make open grain woods stand out more? Or would it stain the wood or just disappear when you buff it?

I have some store bought embellishing wax that works pretty well but it smells like it has a solvent in it. Skip the mineral oil and use turpentine? Read about me in the paper next day? MAN and BOXER DOG killed in kitchen explosion!

So, thoughts? Could buy all this but what's the fun in that? (plus I'm cheap) No wait.... FRUGAL.

 

[Rusty Nesmith]

I found that anything with the mineral oil in it you won’t be able to add a poly finish or anything like it. I let a bowl dry for what I thought was a long time. I put an Arm R Seal semi finish on it and it looked good. Came out the next day and wanted to throw it in the fire. I put it on the vacuum Chuck and sanded both sides down and made it a shop bowl for throwing lose parts in.

 

[Brian Gustin]

Tomorrow I'm going to make a smaller batch without the grit, just beeswax and mineral oil for a polish then I was wondering if I could add some carnauba wax to that mix or will it hurt the beeswax somehow because of the different melting points?

Sam, I call it board butter , but I use different proportions (approx 3:1 oil:beeswax) - package it out in 2 oz tins and market it at farmer's market as board butter for conditioning & maintaining wooden kitchen items (cutting boards, wood utensils, bowls, etc) Mineral oil & beeswax are just fine by themselves - a very little bit goes a LONG way if you want a somewhat satin sheen (it can range from matte to semi-gloss depending on how finely finished the underlying wood is) I made my own abrasive paste pretty much as you describe, but I suspect Ack's (from nearby Coudersport, PA) would be far superior as a polishing finish. (Read on below)

I found that anything with the mineral oil in it you won’t be able to add a poly finish or anything like it. I let a bowl dry for what I thought was a long time. I put an Arm R Seal semi finish on it and it looked good. Came out the next day and wanted to throw it in the fire. I put it on the vacuum Chuck and sanded both sides down and made it a shop bowl for throwing lose parts in.

I was about to say "don't you mean beeswax"? then I realized, both are bad for a pre-finish - mineral oil doesn't cure, ever, so any finish laid over top of it will never stick, and ditto for beeswax (or any wax for that matter, including wax containing shellac) I was initially thinking of the components of Tried & True, but that's LINSEED oil, not Mineral oil....

So, This likely explains why a home-made polishing paste of beeswax, mineral oil, and diatomaceous earth, simply will never be a good idea for anything but a very final step to finishing.... That is, polish.

 

[Bill Blasic]

Applied correctly both Yorkshire Grit/Hampshire Sheen and Ack's 2 part Woodpaste give a warm glowing finish that looks like it was sanded to 1000 grit. I add a dab of Conservators wax as an anti finger print protection.

 

[Bill T Tucker]

Experimentation is all well and good...but please don't hurt that precious Boxer

 

[Sam Fleisher]

Experimentation is all well and good...but please don't hurt that precious Boxer

I just told him a little bit ago how abused and ignored he is....... (he was standing on my bed just in case I didn't notice him on the floor)

 

[Sam Fleisher]

Tonight was the second test of my homemade paste. Next formula will be the 5 to 1 recipe I think because this stuff now is pretty stiff and eats paper towel until you get it warmed up.

I like the Yorkshire grit consistency. Oilier and goes on smoother.

Also I ordered some 2f pumice stone which is called medium grade. I can always make more if I don't like the next batch.

 

[Neil S]

Tomorrow I'm going to make a smaller batch without the grit, just beeswax and mineral oil for a polish then I was wondering if I could add some carnauba wax to that mix or will it hurt the beeswax somehow because of the different melting points?

My finish is a mix of beeswax, carnauba wax and pine turpentine + tripoli/rotten stone. The turpentine dissolves both waxes ready to use as a friction polish. Once exposed the turpentine quickly evaporates (don't breathe too much of it) to leave the a coating of the waxes on the surface of the piece. The beeswax penetrates and the carnauba provides a slightly harder surface than the beeswax alone.

The tripoli/rotten stone acts as both a fine abrasive on the wood and cuts back of the waxes as they form a surface film.

I use old well washed cotton or wool cloth to apply and polish the finish to withstand the abrasive in the mix and not shed fibre into the finish.

 

[Sam Fleisher]

My finish is a mix of beeswax, carnauba wax and pine turpentine + tripoli/rotten stone. The turpentine dissolves both waxes ready to use as a friction polish. Once exposed the turpentine quickly evaporates (don't breathe too much of it) to leave the a coating of the waxes on the surface of the piece. The beeswax penetrates and the carnauba provides a slightly harder surface than the beeswax alone.

The tripoli/rotten stone acts as both a fine abrasive on the wood and cuts back of the waxes as they form a surface film.

I use old well washed cotton or wool cloth to apply and polish the finish to withstand the abrasive in the mix and not shed fibre into the finish.

So your recipe sounds more like the EEE ultra shine that comes from Australia I believe? I have a container of that and like it as well.

Care to share your recipe?

I wonder if the 2f pumice I ordered will be similar or coarser then the EEE ultra shine?

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

To answer most of your wood finishing questions look to Bob Flexner's book "Understanding Wood Finishing" . You will have a much more expansive knowledge of what finishes do to wood and what outside influences do to finishes. Much more than we have time or space to tell you. We can give quick advise but reading the book will give you knowledge.

 

[Sam Fleisher]

To answer most of your wood finishing questions look to Bob Flexner's book "Understanding Wood Finishing" . You will have a much more expansive knowledge of what finishes do to wood and what outside influences do to finishes. Much more than we have time or space to tell you. We can give quick advise but reading the book will give you knowledge.

Thanks, I'll look for that book. That way I won't be wasting anyone's time or bandwidth.

 

[Neil S]

So your recipe sounds more like the EEE ultra shine that comes from Australia I believe? I have a container of that and like it as well.

Care to share your recipe?

I wonder if the 2f pumice I ordered will be similar or coarser then the EEE ultra shine?

Yes, Sam, similar to EEE. Mine uses the pine turpentine instead of whatever solvent is used in EEE, but beyond that I'm not sure how close the proportions are.

I would happily share my recipe if I still had it in measurable amounts, but it has evolved into something like half a container of that added to one scoop of this and dissolve that in turpentine until the consistency is right and then add three amounts of rotten stone that will balance on the end of a paddle-pop stick (literally)!!! One of these days I will retro-measure all of that and write it down somewhere.

FF pumice is going to start somewhere in the 44 to 90 micron range. Rottenstone is going to start somewhere in the 6 to 10 micron range. Both will break down into finer particles as you work with them

 

[Perry Hilbert]

This bees wax/mineral oil &grit stuff sounds a lot like the French polish method, but with a different non-curing base.

decades ago, a friend had a book about different oils and wood finishes done by some laboratory somewhere. It listed the drying times for various oils And some that I thought never dried took 30 to 50 years to cure. (Which for our use is much the same as "never cures" )