Furthermore, varnish which has been damaged by water can be repaired by paste wax, which restores its gloss. This imparts significant water resistance to the otherwise vulnerable surface, and in practice this enables the varnish to be used on objects that are regularly exposed to water. When paste wax is applied to a varnished surface, the turpentine in the paste partially dissolves the rosin, so that the wax becomes part of the varnish itself. However, I have found that this type of paste wax is indispensable as a surface modifier for my rosin varnish. Waxed surfaces are only marginally superior to raw wood, and any benefit comes primarily from giving the wood a smoother, more easily cleanable surface. The resulting surface had relatively low friction, a good shine, and the paste wax left no powdery residue.ĭespite the ease of application, any wax finish has the serious limitation that it does not provide any mechanical protection to the wood. The resulting paste was easily spreadable with a rag, and could quickly be buffed onto a piece of wood. The steps of this process can be seen at the top of the page. I then removed the jar from the heat and allowed it to cool to room temperature. I then carefully heated this mixture to 80☌ on a hot plate (although in hindsight, a double boiler would have been preferable), at which point the carnauba wax melted and went into solution. Experimentally, I found that beeswax requires its own weight of turpentine to make a spreadable paste, and carnauba wax three times its weight accordingly, blends of the two waxes fall proportionally between these limits. To make such a paste, I began by adding 25g of beeswax and 25g of carnauba wax to a small jar, to which I then added 100g of turpentine. Fortunately, the two waxes can be combined into a single paste, which balances their characteristics and is suitable as a general purpose wood finish. Carnauba wax gives a slick surface, but tends to leave behind a white powder in any crevices in the wood. Beeswax is easily applicable in paste form, but the residual friction is undesirable. In the context of woodworking, both of these waxes have benefits and disadvantages. A comparison of their properties can be seen below. These two waxes provide a range of complementary characteristics and can be blended in any proportion, resulting in a highly adjustable surface finish. In particular, I've found beeswax and carnauba wax to be the most useful waxes for this purpose, and turpentine to be the most useful solvent. An easier method is to dissolve the wax into a solvent to make a paste, so that the softening is achieved by chemical, rather than physical means. This vigorous buffing can also be dangerous, if the wood has sharp edges or tends to splinter. However, applying solid wax in this way requires significant effort, since the wax needs to be softened by friction. Wax is by far the simplest wood finish, being applied just by rubbing and buffing.
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