[Irish]

I was finishing my son's antique steamer trunk this morning with several coats of paste wax. Realizing that I did not follow the directions on the can at all I thought I would pass on how my Dad taught me waxing.

I don't use steel wool for the application as it too often leaves behind fine wire that takes me forever to chase down. Nor do I use a cloth as they never seem to get wax into the deep detailing or corner areas.

Instead I use one of those very inexpensive 3" bristle brushes that you can get at any hardware store. The brush is soft enough not to scratch the surface and pliable enough to stuff wax into any corner. You can cut the handle off near the ferrule so that the brush can be easily stored inside the paste wax can ... that is after you have used up some of the wax.

After buffing the wax to a glossy shean I use an old tooth brush for polishing the very deep corners and crevises. I also have an old shoe polishing brush in the waxing kit ... but usually it's a little too large.

You can get some Great! lint free rags at www.sandingcatalog.com that are inexpensive and truely lint free.

Once all the waxing is done everything gets washed in Dawn dish washing detergent. It removes all the wax residue.

Perhaps you are way ahead of me and you have been doing this for years ... but I thought I might share it this morning in hopes of making someone else's waxing job go easier.

Maybe if you have a Tip or Trick you might share it here.

Susan

OH! One more trick. Go to your local hobby ceramic shop and purchase about three or four kiln stilts. These are made of ceramic bisque usually in a triangluar shape. Out of each triangle leg is a sharply pointed wire stem. When you are either oiling or waxing (and even painting) you don't want to set the wood carving down on your work bench or on newspaper as they can get stuck! Instead, do your oil or waxing then place the wood on the kiln stilt. The stilt holds the wood by the three wire points allowing air to flow under the carving for even drying.

[electricbill]

Irish...
great tip/how to.
that got me thinking...i'm sure alot of people here have a little trick or tip they could share with us less "seasoned"....maybe we can start a new section (labeled tips and tricks)
it goes over well on the electrical forum i belong to
bill

[Donna_T]

Susan
I have long used a stencilling brush to apply paste wax to sculptured carvings. Like you said, they are stiff enough to pounce wax down into all the nooks and crannies. Then, too, I have another one that's clean and I use to to polish those nooks when I can't get to them with a buffing cloth (that's usually a wad of an old t-shirt.) There's some carvings that are just plain beautiful with the lustre of a waxed finish.

However, I learned something new from your posting. I've never washed the waxed carving down--just keep changing the buffing cloth til I get rid of all the residue and get the shine I want.

Here's another tip for paste wax. I sometimes take a bit of paste wax and nuke it briefly to get a softer/thinner version. I don't know if the more liquid stuff soaks in better, but it isn't quite as thick.

We learn so many tricks from each other. I doubt any of us have invented a new process--we just keep learning from what others have shared with us--then tweak it to make it work better for us.

Thanks, Susan, for sharing...and making us think!

Donna T

[Irish]

Whoa! Wait!!!

STOP!!!!!!

I wasn't clear enough, obviously! I don't wash the carving ... I wash the buffing rags and bristle brush in Dawn Detergent. If you wash the carving you will lose all of the wax.

My apologizes for not being clearer in the earlier posting.

Susan

[mdallensr]

Oh Susan! I loaded all my waxed carvings in the dishwasher, topped it off with Dawn, set it on Ports-n-Pans, extra hot and let it go. They don't look so good now. Do you think they need another coat of wax I know, the world needs one more wiseguy, huh? Good tips, though. Thanks. Mike

[Irish]

OH JEZZZ!

(Susan goes to file cabinet ... pulls out buisness insurance coverage plan ... looks for clause about full coverage for Senior moments of personal stupidity ... doesn't find it ... riffles further into file cabinet ... looks for health insurance plan ... looks for clause about Foot In Mouth Disease ... doesn't find it either ... goes to bed and pulls covers way up over her head ... decides this is a nice place to hide for a month or three while everything blows over.) Sigh


Susan

[BobD]

I actually use scotchbrite pads to apply my wax....they are abrasive enough to fill in any little spots that I may not have sanded enough <grin>. I had the same problems wiht steel wool...

I also found out this weekend that the 3M abrasive pads, that look kinda like the Scotchbrite pads, don't work as well for defuzzing--I spent more time digging the little fibers out of the skin around my safety glasses than I did defuzzing!

I really like those new 3M bristle disks, though!

By the way, be sure to send your tips in to WCI first--you can win a $25 Fox Book gift certificate...and I've been struggling to find enough submissions <grin>

Bob

[Donna_T]

Oh my, Mike and Susan,
That was the best laugh I've had all day.
about jumping to conclusions.......

Donna T

[JIM QUILICI]

Irish'


Thank you for insights on applying wax finish, information I can use.

Just old Jim

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

$25.00! gee, wow, last of the big time spenders ha ha.........just my contribution to harassment and agitation for the day! LOL