Making your own wax finish
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Tagged: oive oil, wax finish
- This topic has 4 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 6 months ago by Mer Almagro.
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29 June 2015 at 7:50 pm #128142
I’ve been researching wax finishes to use on top of shellac or some other finishes. I had been planning on using turpentine as I’d known about those recipes longest and I like the way turpentine smells. I’d heard about using mineral oil instead of turpentine mostly to reduce the smell. Lately I’m seeing a lot of recipes calling for olive oil which I thought might be handy for kitchen items.
Has anyone tried these various combinations? Have you developed a preference for one over the other? If you make the finish out of olive oil can it turn rancid?
John
Hi John
First about olive oil, all vegetable oils can go rancid. How likely they do seems to be more of a case to case basis and is probably more to how they were made.
I’m not sure about putting anything then just wax with or without a thinner (turpentine or other) on top of shellac. The shellac will not allow for the oil to absorb into the wood so you would have to wait for the oil in the wax to air dry and that could take weeks or more. I think these mixes are to use as the only finish and not with shellac.
If you are looking for a wax with color, take a look at kiwi shoe polish. The major difference to furniture wax is just the price.
30 June 2015 at 11:54 pm #128166Olive oil is not a drying oil so it will never dry.
Bob Flexner’s recipe for paste wax is a half pound of wax to a pint of solvent then heat it in a water bath until it’s blended.
He also says that commercial paste waxes are as good as anything you can make yourself.
One of the wax finishes I’ve used on smaller projects is carnauba wax applied with a buffing wheel (or buffed with a cloth if it’s on the lathe). I’ve used this over varnish oil, shellac and bare wood. It give a durable finish that I think looks good and feels nice to the touch. This obviously wouldn’t be practical on a furniture project as you have to buff it hard enough to melt the carnauba wax (about 180 degrees F).
24 October 2015 at 4:48 pm #131655I use olive oil on all kitchen wood (cutting boards, spoons) because that’s what I have in the kitchen, whatever is not absorbed, which isn’t much, gets washed off on the next wash. I never noticed it going rancid used in this way (everything gets good use and washed often), but I would not mix it in a wax unless I made small amounts to use straight away, I am sure I’d then go rancid in half a year or a year.
Walnut oil is a drying oil so it’d be great for the kitchen if there isn’t anyone around with nut allergies. Jojoba oil doesn’t go rancid easily, but I haven’t tried making wax with it.
I would not use turpentine in the kitchen either. You can use lemon oil as a food safe solvent. I’ve read about that but I haven’t tried it either.I’ve made wax with “boiled” linseed oil (not food safe, the “boiled” part is some metal salts they add to speed up the drying process). Mix it with turpentine and bees wax, you can add some essential oil to make it smell even better. Again, not for the kitchen!
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